Andrea Belgrade
PhD ’20
“Through my Eyes: Stories of Young Refugees” is an art exhibit and research project using Photovoice methodology. This project aims to provide refugees, especially children and adolescents, a voice in public discourse. This project aims to empower participants, increase understanding and empathy for these people, and help to build scholarly knowledge which may eventually inform policy both locally (within the schools for example) or nationally (federal policy). We will work with local school districts in Washtenaw County and Washtenaw Refugee Welcome, a non profit community organization. After our participants have taken their photographs and created captions, we will have them engage in debriefing focus groups where they will have a chance to discuss their photographs. The photographs, captions, and the focus group discussions will be coded to identify common themes that may arise for participants, helping us to understand both their shared and unique experiences. These photos will be displayed in the form of an exhibit to help educate the general public.
Library Mentor: Justin Schell