Background/Purpose To address the persistent inequalities constraining some young people's physicality (Nazarro, 2003), Keller et al. (2008) advocate for the use of visual methods to investigate the contexts of their physical activity and health. The purpose of this research was to explore how young people of different ethnic backgrounds pictured their embodiment of physical activity in their daily lives.
Method In this two-year visual ethnography, participants were 61 students in three state-funded, urban UK schools with diverse student populations. Student-generated “visual diaries” were used to enable participants to express themselves (Gauntlett and Holzwarth 2006). Among other sources of data collected, students were instructed to include 10–20 pictures in their visual diaries, entitled Moving in My World.
Analysis/Results Researchers conducted a “visual-driven” content analysis of the photos included in each diary (van Leeuween & Jewitt, 2001). As a result of this first content analysis, all the photos generated by participants (1,142) were organized into a comprehensive, systematic “photo inventory” (Prosser, 2007, p. 22) which allowed for patterns (e.g., gender and race) to emerge. A quantitative-driven visual content analysis (Bell, 2001) was then conducted on the 5 content categories: 1) participants in physical activity; 2) portraits of people; 3) object(s); 4) place(s); and 5) other people in physical activity. Results from this analysis revealed gender and racial patterns of category 1) and 2); and a gender difference for categories 3) and 5).
Conclusions The conclusion of the paper discusses the potential of visual methods to make gender and racial exclusion in physical activity visible.