Abstract:
I present a case study of the digital storytelling (DST) project at the Pathways for Women's Empowerment Research Consortium. Pathways undertook DST as a new research tool to articulate how women strategize and experience positive change in their daily lives in Bangladesh. I analyze the relation between DST and feminist research, and evaluate its capacity to represent women's diverse experiences given the genre's formalities and narrative preoccupations. Inspired by Chandra Mohanty's argument for situated and historical meanings of â experienceâ , this study aims to counteract the tendency within the DST movement to propagate digital stories as complete, â authenticâ voices. I make the case that DST should be recognized as a co-creative process rather than independent authoring. An actor-centric approach is applied to explore the overlapping discourses and workshop practices that actors must mediate. I find that the DST methodology and specific narrative structure of storytelling may delimit ways of conveying empowerment. Not every participant's experience of empowerment or mode of narration is readily appropriate for DST. On the other hand, some participants report DST guidelines as useful tools for strengthening community relationships and opening up a more self-reflexive space for critical thinking. When researchers use or watch digital stories, it is important to be cognizant of the workshop as sites of struggle over meaning in which multiple actors mediate tensions over process and product. Exploring the commonly overlooked role of feminist action research in workshop mediation, this study contributes to the growing body of work on DST in the development sector of the global South.
