What can a woman do with a camera? Turning the female gaze on poverty and HIV and AIDS in rural South Africa

This article explores the use of participatory video in finding solutions to challenges faced by schools and communities in the contexts of poverty and the AIDS pandemic in one rural community in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Locating the analysis within the study of feminist visual culture and the notion of the female gaze, the article focuses on a close reading of the production of a three-minute video produced by women participating in a project involving teachers, learners, community healthcare workers, and parents. We use textual analysis to look at three levels of textuality: the primary text, the production text, and audience text. Working with video offers a critical way to engage more broadly with texts within qualitative research in education, to engage women in examining their everyday lives, and to make visible new possibilities for addressing the problems of AIDS and poverty. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.