Youth on discrimination: a platform for self-expression through the photovoice

Within the European project Story_S, supporting successful educational paths for Roma youth through peer to peer education, a participatory anti-discrimination campaign was built with young people of different backgrounds, in Milan and Rome. An intersectional approach is proposed to reflect together with young students on the topic of discrimination and to build, through the photovoice, a photographic campaign addressed to their peers. The photovoice process fostered group dynamics, reflection, and a photographic work, during two Awareness Raising Workshops of 3 days each. Discrimination is recognized and experienced by the youth on grounds of gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, in definitions of normality, poverty, online, offline and in the media. Metaphors of coexistence or of the beauty of diversity were represented through photos; also experiences of discrimination regarding housing conditions and public services were captured. Strategies to combat discrimination have been proposed and discussed by participants. Through the online and offline dissemination of the campaign, counter-narratives were promoted and reached wider audiences, in an attempt to support anti-discrimination cultures and empowerment in schools and youth environments. By discussing both the process and the results of the photovoice, we contribute to the understanding of young people’s perspective on discrimination and on participation to social change.