Voices from the journey. A Photovoice experience with migrant minors

The article presents a Photovoice experience involving a group of Unaccompanied and Separate Children (UASC) and carried out as part of a psychosocial support program. After a brief review of the literature, the authors present the project, describing its main objectives, data analysis and the results. Starting from the proposal to represent one’s own journey through the temporal dimensions of the past, present and future, the 7 involved UASCs selected 20 photos depicting the following themes: the importance of advocating on the violence of forced migration as an experience dehumanizing on the borderline between life and death, the peculiarities of identities in transit, requiring to minors an effort for integrating their experiences across places and over time, the question of the uncertainty of the future, a dimension that is rarely addressed in terms of a life plan, the need to focus on the Western conception of the minor age, the difficulty of establishing relationships with the natives, the passivity embedded in the process of reception within centers. In line with the evidence of the international literature on Photovoice, also with respect to UASC, the experience suggests the potential of this methodology with reference to the possibility of exploring and sharing their own perspectives and promoting empowerment. Furthermore, taking methodological variations, the peculiarities of the experience have highlighted the potential of Photovoice as a context capable of supporting participants in the elaboration of their traumatic experiences.

Keywords: Photovoice, Unaccompanied and Separated Children, psychosocial support, empowerment, resilience.

Gandolfa Cascio, Ivana Cutugno, Serena Vitulo, Voci di viaggio. Un’esperienza di Photovoice con minori migranti in "PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE" 1/2021, pp 143-158, DOI: 10.3280/PDS2021-001009