Youth – Kim van Kastel

Location: Kampala, Uganda, 2010

“This photo was taken while conducting anthropological research on the practices of international development health care projects in Kampala, Uganda. I got to know this young girl at an Islamic school where one a private health care clinic frequently organized community outreach activities and info-sessions on AIDS prevention.”

– Kim van Kastel

Kids Polishing their Mountaineering Skills – Asif Hussain

Location: Hushe, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, 2016

“Hushe is the last village in Hushe Valley before one enters the wilderness of Karakoram mountain ranges. More than 80% of Hushe community is affiliated with tourism. They work as porters for expeditions and trackers to four of the highest peaks in the world (8000m) including K-2, the second highest peak.

This photo depicts kids in the village polishing their mountaineering skills by climbing on various walls in the village. My research investigates the consequences of tourism on livelihood diversification strategies.” 

– Asif Hussain

FGD with Female Participants – Danstan Mukono

Location: Kinyope village, Lindi District, Tanzania, 2017

“This picture was taken during my Ph.D. field work in 2017 titled ‚REDD+ and Social Livelihoods Discourse in: With reflections from forest-dependent communities in Lindi District‘. The general idea was to capture the underlying power and knowledge underlying REDD+ regime of practices.

As part of the methodology, the power of context and who interviews who is crucial. This displays the sensibility of bridging the power dynamics between the researcher and the researched. Importantly, the choice of location matters as it provides room for participants to open up, hence the presence of the large tree in the community sheltered the session.”

– Danstan Mukono

Colors of Dawn in Mountainous Georgia – Temur Gugushvili

Location: Village Kvelatubani, Shida Kartli Region, Georgia, 2012

The Rural Sociologists Club (Georgia) which functions as a multidisciplinary platform, where students are engaged in rural issues, inspires new research and initiatives. The RS Club carries out small-scale research in the sparsely populated rural areas in Georgia so as to contribute to the process of revealing emerging challenges faced by local communities. It is noteworthy that the expeditions and fieldwork are organized regularly with strong support of Tbilisi State University.

Throughout the years, expeditions have been conducted to various regions of Georgia, particularly in remote areas, which are the least populated. In order to obtain in-depth information about targeted settlements, researchers of the expedition group have direct contact with local dwellers. As a result of fieldwork and various case studies, several crucial challenges have been identified; rural communities struggle to access proper roads, clean water, and public services, which are essential for the everyday lives of human beings. Besides these facts, poverty and poor economic conditions create strong additional barriers for rural populations to handle the afore-mentioned problems.

The presented photo, taken in 2012 during an expedition, depicts grave socioeconomic conditions in one of many poor mountain villages in Georgia. Young people, representing the main labor and reproductive force, leave their home villages due to the lack of proper infrastructure and services, like roads, transport, internet provision, etc. Such severe situations push out population to urban areas in search of work, often outside the country.

– The description of the photo was prepared by Gvantsa Salukvadze.

Read more about this project.

Black Cowboys at Work – Myeshia Babers

Location: Houston, Texas, USA, 2014

“This photo is a counter narrative to negative stereotypes about black masculinity and depictions of the way black men relate to each other by representing the idea behind the phrase „my brother’s keeper“. It shows one of the many ways black men cultivate their racialized gender identities.

This photo represents the manifestation of commitments made and responsibilities accepted for another man’s cultivation as a cowboy and as a human being because rodeo activities are dangerous. This speaks to my project about how black cowboys transmit cultural information about black masculinity – racialized masculinity – in the U.S. through black Western culture.” 

– Myeshia Babers