Through the eyes of Umunthu : Participatory visual research with marginalized youth in Afrocentric indigenous research ethics

Using duoethnography, this study examines how researchers working with marginalized youth in Afrocentric contexts through participatory visual research (PVR) methods, engage with indigenous research ethics. The article centers on Malawi as a case of analysis, while drawing from the authors’ fieldwork experiences and visual data collected through photovoice, participatory drawing, and poetic inquiry. In considering the ethicality of language, methods, and positionality in PVR methods via the lens of Afrocentric indigeneity— Umunthu —as evidenced in our data, we argue that indigenous research ethics are ongoing and rooted in relationships with participants and local community members. Umunthu, as an onto-epistemological perspective, advances a decolonial agenda that centers marginalized voices by applying indigenous philosophy alongside PVR.