Using Video for Research and Representation: basic human needs and critical pedagogy

If the development of basic human needs can be conceptualised as a critical pedagogy, then we need to look more carefully at the relationships between culture and the politics of development practices as they relate to cultures. These cultural and political practices include the language in which development and the alleviation of poverty has been discussed and conceived at the level of policy and management. They impinge on the cultural structures that surround the ways that development organisations operate and train, as well as their relationships with the cultures of poor people. This article examines the participatory use of video from the perspectives of representation by the under‐represented recipients of development initiatives and the implications for development practitioners and policy‐makers.