PAR in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Participatory Action Research and PhotoVoice with Community Health Workers in Post-Katrina New Orleans

African American and Latina health workers and Euro-American university researchers co-created this project using photography, interviews, and other participatory research strategies to identify, critically analyze, and document responses to the health and psychosocial disparities facing post-Katrina communities. Co-researchers critically discussed their work as community-based health promoters, increasing cross-community dialogue and actions through participatory action research and photovoice. The partnership offers a model of women's leadership forged by those forced from their homes by Katrina and newcomers seeking to rebuild the city. This work was exhibited at the Marriott New Orleans from March 22 -24, 2010 in the context of the Katrina@5: Partners in Philanthropy. The exhibition posters featured on the right presented two aspects of the project: Analyzing Racism and Oppression and Two Communities - One Voice.

The CHRIJ-sponsored project is a Participatory and Action Research PhotoVoice Project in post-Katrina New Orleans. It was designed collaboratively by M. Brinton Lykes, Community-Cultural Psychologist and Associate Director of the Center for Human Rights and International Justice; Luanne Francis, health educator and program director at Kingsley House; and, Shaula Lovera, health educator and program director at the Hispanic Apostolate of Catholic Charities.