SOS Children
	Children Charity About this report About our Charity Orphans worldwide Why choose SOS? Sponsor a child Donate or help

Seeing Beyond Violence: Main report text

Introduction
5
imagine this abstract contrary to the negative, the "negative" of the negative? How would
they know it when they met it? A sophisticated endeavour, indeed.
Why did we ask for the opposite/the absence of violence and search for new words and
descriptions? `Non-violent' and `violence free' are commonly used terms. From neurologi-
cal research however we know, that "no" and "not" are difficult concepts to the human
mind. Imagine a toddler, and her mother, calling lovingly "be careful, don't fall" while the
baby happily wiggles her way - what happens? The toddler will become unsteady and tum-
ble, as it's mind will only catch the embedded command of "fall". The mother's notion of
care creates the opposite of what she desired - not the safety of the child, but it's fall.
If I asked you: `Don't think of the white elephant!'. What comes to your mind? Which picture
emerges in your inner world of imagination? Definitely not a black panther, I would guess,
but a white elephant. So, it seems quite possible that a moral command; "don't exercise
violence"; will backfire one way or the other as an embedded command opposite to that
desired.
Hence the search for the desired and shared image of something other than violence from
the point of view of the children became the focus for this study.
The methodology was chosen to support the children's participation and to guarantee to
an extent, that the power of adult and expert language would not diminish the children's
findings. Working with photographs seemed most appropriate, as the use of photographs
"touches on the limitations of language, especially language used for descriptive pur-
poses. In using photographs the potential exists, however elusive the achievements, to
find ways of thinking about social life that escape the traps set by language" (Walker,
72)5
The combination of "digital ethnography" with symbolic interactionism within a research
methodology sets a framework condition for children as researchers in which they can act
as researchers as well as subjects of their own research. It empowers them, gives them
more than a voice but visual evidence of their social understanding of reality. And with
the changed focus of good practice it especially deals with the issue of violence in a way
that does not violate the children's emotions again by trespassing into their traumatized
past.
The study was not a participatory project from the beginning, as the research question
came from the organisation and not the children themselves. Yet it was to open a door to
the children's world, to understand their construction of social reality, and to leave the
adult world with an image more powerful than verbal interpretation. The use of cameras
and digital equipment for processing the photos gave the children a power unknown be-
fore, especially in SOS Children's Villages, where very often adults come and use their
cameras to document village life, portraying the children living there, using the caught
images for fundraising or marketing projects. By handing them the cameras and trusting

5 Walker, Rob: Finding a silent voice for the researcher: using photographs in evaluation and
research. In: M. Schratz (ed.) (1993) Qualitative Voices in Educational Research, pp. 72-92, Lon-
don, Falmer Press.

---

Introduction
6
them with the process the power was reversed and on some occasions the interpretation
process became a joint learning for young and adult researchers.
That the children often used the opportunity to replay to us the stereotypes that they had
learnt from previous experiences with cameras was not surprising. What was surprising
was that they quickly constructed their own visual vocabularies that took other directions
and invoked other meanings.
Although the study is not meant to be an evaluation as in the original use of the methodol-
ogy6, we as an organisation hoped to learn from the researchers' findings what might be
adequate non-violent framework conditions for family based out of home care from the
children's point of view. Not only for SOS Children's Village programmes but also for out
of home/residential care in general. But it was in the nature of the enquiry that we could
not force this, but rather had to give children access to the process and wait patiently to
see what they did with it.
The effects of a case study like "Seeing beyond Violence" within the organisation are
manifold. It is a giant step to trust children to be researchers, since this reverses so many
assumptions that we hold about expertise and authority. Addressing a hot issue like vio-
lence beyond a narrowly psychotherapeutic realm requires an imaginative leap. We still
have a long way to go on both counts but involving the children in the study is a signifi-
cant first step, and showing the staff of the four villages the potentials of participatory
methodology an important achievement.
Contracting three researchers with different professional background and a range of
methodological and theoretical tools made the study also valid on another level. Taking
the findings of process and outcome we will develop from these four case studies a good
practice example of children as researchers/evaluators which might be applicable in a vari-
ety of settings and which is culture and gender sensitive. Empowering staff and children in
applying participatory research instruments for self evaluation are steps towards authentic
organisational learning.
Hopefully the findings of this study will support similar projects, not only within SOS
Children's Villages but within communities as well. And hopefully we will advance some
steps further on the path - so that what we imagined at the beginning will grow into new
reality.
We intend to further develop the methodology within cultural childhood studies not only
in being participatory and gender sensitive but we will also seek out partners for further
research projects and for funding similar research in areas beyond SOS Children's Villages
and out of home care.

6 Schratz, Michael, Ulrike Löffler-Ansböck (2004) The darker side of democracy: a visual ap-
proach to democratising teaching and learning. In: John MacBeath, Leif Moos (eds.) Democratic
Learning. RoutledgeFalmer, London.

---

Introduction
7
Our gratitude and appreciation go to the children and the staff of the four SOS Children's
Villages who volunteered to participate in the project. Their support and openness made
the study possible and a success.

Barbara Schratz-Hadwich
Research Management
SOS Children's Village Hermann Gmeiner Academy

---

Next Page