Challenges and possibilities of visual methodologies in researching housing/home

Have you ever thought of using the power of the visual as a methodological tool? Visual methods have long been mobilised in the social sciences, but they are still under-represented compared to more traditional methods such as interviews, focus groups or surveys. In this presentation I focus on a particular strand of visual-elicitation, participant-generated photo- elicitation. This method of in-depth interviewing relies on participants talking about photographs they have taken themselves. Reflecting on two recent projects on the housing experiences of low-income private tenants in the UK, I will shows that the method delivers a deeper and different knowledge by empowering participants to talk about what is important to them, by breaking taken-for-granted understanding, and by stimulating reflexivity. Finally, by allowing us to enter in participants’ home located miles away, it inspired us to develop a new theorization of home as assemblage.