How do young children demonstrate their expert knowledge (about popular culture) through photo-voice?

Using a case study approach to exploring work with children as co-researchers, we asked 6 year old Crisdan to photograph his photograph his bedroom for us. We were particularly interested in artifacts of popular culture and the expert knowledge that children have (not surprisingly) of childhood culture.

Crisdan used a 24 exposure disposable camera to document his bedroom. In a follow-up interview, we look at the photographs with him. Not only were we interested in the objects that he focused on in the pictures, we were also interested in “ways of looking”: How do people look at photographs together? Who holds them? Who determines the order? How long does one look at each photo before moving on? Who decides? How might we explore ownership?

From C. Mitchell and J. Reid-Walsh (2002). Researching children’s popular culture: The cultural spaces of Childhood. London and New York: RoutledgeTaylor Francis

Claudia Mitchell & Jacquie Reid-Walsh