Collaborating with Cameras in Canada

In my 2013 doctoral thesis I argue for an embodied practice of The Photographer-Researcher who encourages youth participants to emerge as empowered participant-researchers, collaborators. Through collaboration what would otherwise be thought of as a kind of participatory action ethnography - uplifting the formation to the level of a collaboration meant that instead of observing and participating in a group, I asked youth to challenge themselves by learning new skills like photography, ethics, design, critique, and group work, to actively produce material objects that could represent moments of life in relation to the underlying socio-economic phenomenon of regional petro-capital production that is entwined with global markets.

In 2018 I am challenged by ethical considerations that appear when I consider the prospect of transforming a thesis that is already mostly published as articles into a monograph. The tension emerges when I consider how to proceed? For example; I could generalize all aspects of the findings; focus on the methods and produce a hand-book without focusing on ‘the what;’ or, produce a text that is largely visual as a means of giving the visual ‘evidence’ its own space that documents a group of, then youth, who participated in an activity that they would of had no way of knowing that I would still be thinking about some years later.

This paper will provide a very brief overview of the research conducted, point to the already published work, and then ask, what are the ethical considerations that also need to be brought to light in order to mitigate harm, and for their to be some benefit through wider dissemination. The author, Andriko Lozowy, humbly asks those in attendance, given what you know, what makes the most sense, what provides the greatest benefit, and what should the next steps be?