Hierarchical top-down approaches to agricultural development, based predominantly on neoliberal priorities, supported by materialistic philosophies and positivist evidence bases, dominate agricultural development chains, squeezing out space for alternatives to exist, let alone thrive. Participatory approaches to research and development were initially conceived as ways to break out of top-down development chains. Yet over time they have been sucked in to materialistic and neoliberal pathways and in the process have become tools for the tokenistic involvement and/or manipulation of rural Malawians, whose perspectives continue to go unseen and unheard.
This investigation took the stance that genuine participatory research is still possible if space is systematically made for participants to take control and work with researchers/facilitators in processes of reflection and open communication. Participatory video (PV) in particular can provide platforms for participants to be seen and heard as they produce a film, or films, which can be shared with diverse audiences.
A thorough mixed method approach based on 87 semi-structured interviews, followed by a five month PV process in one case study location, including 16 workshops and a further 6 weeks of editing, led to a participatory film entitled Tigwirane Manja (Holding Hands), which was screened 9 times to diverse audiences. This extensive process provided the means to explore the potential of genuine participatory research using PV and created space to reimagine agricultural development in Malawi.
