Decolonising research and folk media: a methodology for Exploring narratives of HIV and AIDS in rural Malawi

Abstract

Background: In Malawi, well-meaning HIV and AIDS interventions imagined in the “Global North” continue to ignore how local people construct the world. This paper explores how folk media can be used to enable research on HIV and AIDS to be positioned within localised cultural paradigms. Methods: Drawing on Chewa epistemology, I used folk media methods supported by participant observation. The research was conducted in three phases over 15 days in two rural communities and captured the workshop processes, participants’ process reviews, verbal journals and creative outputs through pictures, audio and video recordings, field notes and reflections. Data was analysed thematically. Finding: Folk media can be used to structure research, to facilitate a conducive environment for research practice, as data and as a method for the generation of data/knowledge. Conclusions: Folk media can be a strong, replicable, culturally grounded, decolonizing research methodology that promotes collaboration and the deconstruction of power relations.