What is Health Systems Responsiveness

The use of photovoice for storytelling and as a critical pedagogical tool is still exploratory. Despite calls to rethink, re-imagine, and rework curriculums, many challenges remain in designing assessments that utilize creative storytelling formats that demonstrate an awareness of the social context, history, and lived realities of students. This chapter addresses the outcomes of a classroom-based study that explored whether a photovoice essay, used in a medical sociology undergraduate assessment, facilitated a critical analysis of the social determinants of health by students, and oriented them towards taking action. Existing research on critical pedagogy tends to focus on investigating the feasibility or extent of dialogical exploration of societal hegemonies, and prospects of future transformations between teachers and students in the classroom. This chapter provides an overview of how photovoice and reflective writing are used to create new stories by students in a South African university and how it can be supported.