"While knowledge can be generated in several ways, the predominant western route is based on scientific analysis, empirical observation and critical reflection. Such dominant knowledge is anchored in scientific paradigms and codified in print...What is not codified in print is usually repressed, disqualified and dismissed."

Published in the International Communication Gazette (Vol. 68, No. 4, pp. 313-330), this article analyses the use of ordinary communicative tools to understand local worldviews and realities as an alternative to the dominant Western methodology/framework as described above. Authors Arvind Singhal and Elizabeth Rattine-Flaherty used pencils and photographs as part of an effort to analyse a communication for social change initiative carried out by Minga Perú, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in the Peruvian Amazon. In short, the researchers argue that pencil sketches and photos represent important tools for communication research and praxis, providing an alternative to "textocentrism" - the privileging of text, writing and the lettered word as a mode of comprehension and expression.

As detailed here, in contrast to a worldview which valorises literacy to the exclusion of other forms of expression/knowing, pencil sketches can foster agency. In its motivational work with disempowered women of the Amazon, Minga Perú encourages women to use pencils to communicate about gender-sensitive topics that are difficult to speak out against. "For instance, a sketch might show a women cowering in a corner - with eyes down, tightly clenched though muted lips, while her husband showers abuse - with his hands, words, eyes. These pencil sketches are then discussed to expose realms of male hegemony in the Amazon, raising critical consciousness about their rights as individuals, women and wives: for instance, the right to have a voice, the right to control their reproductive destiny and the right to earn an income." (Other Minga Perú strategies are described here, such as a half-hour entertainment-education radio programme (Bienvenida Salud, or Welcome Health) broadcast 3 times per week which incorporates stories based on real-life events - often sent to Minga by audience members as cards, hand-sewn letters, or even painted on bark. To encourage active audience feedback and formative input, Minga has made arrangements with boat companies to ferry listeners’ letters from the interior of the Amazon jungle. This serial is coupled with community-based health promotion (through promotoras - young women trained, using culturally appropriate materials, to work as health promoters and change agents in the communities where they live), and self-esteem training and income-generating activities for local indigenous and mestizo women).

The authors' data-collection procedures included pencils and photographs to enable the respondents (children and women) to "visually" record their perceptions of Minga Perú contributions to reproductive health, gender equality, and social change in the Peruvian Amazon. A participatory pencil sketching exercise was conducted with 8 children of community promotoras to understand the salient aspects of their community life. The pencil sketches depicted a strong sense of neighbourhood and community life in the Peruvian Amazon, as well as the close relationship of people with nature. The sketches also flagged certain social enterprises (chicken coops, fish farms, and agro-forestry) that are directly attributable to Minga Perú's interventions.

In addition, a participatory photography exercise was undertaken with 7 community promotoras to gauge their perception of Minga Perú's influence
on their lives. The purpose of this methodology is to gain insights into people's lived experiences, which were previously overlooked, rejected or silenced. This type of photography is participatory in that cameras are put in the hands of the people, who are encouraged to document and co-share their own reality through photos. "As opposed to asking the promotoras questions, and thereby constraining the nature and scope of their word responses, they were asked to capture Minga's influence on their community through the language of images. None of the seven promotoras had previously handled a camera..." The photographs highlighted the aquaculture of the communities and emphasised entrenched patriarchal gendered roles in the Amazonas. Minga's influence was reflected in photographs that showed how crocheting and handicraft production was integrated with community-based group listening as part of Bienvenida Salud; how the promotora served as change agents in the community; how Minga's activities fostered male involvement in community projects, such as in the establishment of fish farms; how listening to Bienvenida Salud promoted better parent-to-child communication; and how letter-writing made radio listeners active participants in producing or shaping media
messages.

As the authors argue by citing several examples of research projects from around the world, "The narrative of the sketch and the photograph can become a participatory site for wider storytelling, individual agency and community action." While recognising the value of visuals as an alternative mode of expression and evaluation, the authors also point out that sketches, paintings and photographs are socially and technically constructed. That is, visual frames "by their very nature privilege the photographer's point of view". Thus, they recommend that, "for participatory sketching and photography interventions, participants share their sketches and photos and their narratives with other community members to further gauge the commonality and differences of their meanings and interpretations. These community discussion sites can then also serve as a catalyst for community decisions and action."

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