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SAGE Visual Methods

Using Photography in Studiesof Immigrant Communities

Contributors: Steven J. GoldEditors: Jason HughesBook Title: SAGE Visual MethodsChapter Title: "Using Photography in Studies of Immigrant Communities"Pub. Date: August 2004Access Date: February 24, 2014Publishing Company: SAGE Publications LtdCity: LondonPrint ISBN: 9781446241028

Online ISBN: 9781446268520DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446268520Print pages: v2-89-v2-111
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Using Photography in Studies of Immigrant Communities, Steven J. Gold American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 47 (12) (2004): pp. 15511572. 2004 Sage Publications.Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications via Copyright Clearance Center'sRightslink service.

Drawing on the author's research with three migrant populationsJews from the formerSoviet Union, Vietnamese, and Israelisthis article offers several suggestions forintegrating photography into fieldwork studies. Visual methods are shown to be useful

for learning about the research context, generating rapport with respondents, analyzingfindings, and sharing research with students and colleagues. Examples show howphotography contributed to the understanding of migrant communities, entrepreneurs'use of coethnic and outgroup labor, and gender patterns.

For the past 20 years, I have been involved in studies of migrant and ethniccommunities. At the time I began research in this area, I was already familiar with visualsociology and believed that the use of photography could contribute much to researchon immigration. However, there were few sources of information that could direct metoward integrating visuals into sociological research. Through a trial and error process, I

eventually developed a series of techniques to achieve this end. In retrospect, I realizethat I learned as much from the social interactions involved with taking photographs,showing images to respondents, and sharing prints with colleagues and students as I
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did from analyzing what is shown in the images themselves. The purpose of this articleis to share some of these techniques with those who wish to incorporate visuals intotheir own studies.

Integrating Visuals into Soc ial Researchhatis the Visual in Visual Methods?During the past two decades, a considerable body of literature has been published thatoffers a variety of theoretical and practical suggestions about how to incorporate visuals

into social research. However, no one approach has emerged as being appropriate forall of the myriad activities with which sociologists are involved (Banks, 2001; Becker,1986; Prosser, 1998; Rose, 2001; [p. v2-90 ] Wagner, 2002). A major debate withinthis scholarship concerns the extent to which the visual should be treated as the primaryobject of analysis or if images should be used as one of many tools available for theinvestigation of social life.

One body of work contends that images should be the central object of study andfocus of investigation. For example, Ball and Smith (1992) sought to make visuals aserious source of data worthy of analysis (p. 14), whereas Emmison and Smith (2000)hoped to position visual research as a central theme of investigations into society andculture (p. x). Erving Goffman's Gender Advertisements (1979), which relies on theanalysis of hundreds of magazine clippings, is held up as an exemplar of this orientation(Emmison & Smith, 2000).

Proponents of this method berate the use of images as illustrations that depict visuallywhat is already described in the text (Hammond, 1998). For example, Ball and Smith(1992) criticized the use of photographs and film footage used to illustrate ethnographicwork:

We have argued that as part of ethnographic reports, photographs are

largely ancillary to the principal analytic purposes of the work. They areusually presented as a descriptive resource rather than a visual topic ofinquiry.
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Here as is so often the case pictures serve a simply decorative andillustrative function. (pp. 1112)

Studies reflecting this approach offer convincing evidence of the value of visuallybased scholarship. Paradoxically, however, by demanding that visuals be placed atthe center of social research, this scheme may actually discourage a broader body ofinvestigators from incorporating visual elements into their projects. Because relativelyfew sociological issues are fundamentally visual, those whose research concernsnonvisual topics and requires the analysis of nonvisual data may get the impression thatincorporating photographs into their projects is purely illustrative or documentary andhence, an inadequate application of visual methods (Emmison & Smith, 2000, p. 55).

An alternative approach rests on the idea that images can be effectively integratedwith other forms of information to improve sociological work, even if analysis of thevisual is not the central focus. In such cases, photos are treated not solely as sourcesof data but also as tools that facilitate the process of research more generally. Theyhelp to establish rapport with respondents, contextualize and lend specificity to thesubject matter in question, and can humanize the portrayal of respondents. In addition,the inclusion of images can encourage students and colleagues to join the analyticalenterprise and make presentations more accessible to diverse audiences (Collier &Collier, 1986; Grady, 1996; Harper, 1987; Vergara, 1997).

In a recent article on the use of visual evidence in sociological analysis, Becker (2002)referred to this use of visuals as he described Berger and Mohr's (1975) A Seventh Man , a study of migrant laborers in Western [p. v2-91 ] Europe. Becker contendedthat even though the accompanying images are uncaptioned, the article providesenough information (ethnographic, statistical, and historical) about the experience ofthese workers to permit readers to interpret what is shown. Becker further asserted thatthis mode of presentation yields a more active, personal, and engaging experience thanif images and text were explicitly integrated by the authors.

The work of ethnographic filmmakers offers another model for incorporating images into

fieldwork projects (Barbash & Taylor, 1997). For them, a good deal of knowledge andanalysis about the group, community, or phenomenon in question has already beengenerated prior to the initiation of filming. Images are used as a means of illustrating


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important themes, relationships, and processes associated with the subject in questionor in the activity of documentary making itself (Minh-Ha, 1992). Filmmakers editfootage, audio, and narration into a sequence that they can share with an audience.Such documentary footage is not raw data and not analyzed to generate findings.However, neither is it redundant or superfluous in the ways that Ball and Smith(1992) condemned. Instead, as Barbash and Taylor (1997) asserted in their guide toethnographic filmmaking, The act of filming is often likened by anthropologists to thedocumentation or demonstration of research that precedes and determines it (p. 70).

I have used this approach to incorporate photography into fieldwork projects onimmigration involving three ethnic/nationality groups: Soviet Jews, Vietnamese, and

Israelis (Gold 1992; 1995a; 2002). None of these projects were primarily visual innature. Yet I used photography extensively in each of them and found it to be a valuabletool.

Three Uses of Photography in FieldResearchhat is the Visual in VisualMethods?Ethnographic investigations are commonly used to explore social life and to reflect onthe applicability of theoretical formulations to real world settings (Burawoy, 1991). Manyof the most influential of these reveal the complex and often unexpected ways thatpeople cope with the situations that they confront. Drawing from this tradition, this articlecontributes to the refinement of general propositions about the behavior of immigrantand ethnic groups as they adapt to new environments.

I understand visual research as a tool that complements existing methods. Accordingly,I use images in conjunction with other approaches commonly used in communitystudies, such as literature reviews, participant observation, in-depth interviews (with

group members and informed observers), and the inspection of official documentsand statistics. In the following section, I briefly describe three areas of ethnographic
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research within which I found photography to be useful: gaining an orientation to thefield setting, establishing rapport with respondents, and analyzing data.

[p. v2-92 ]

Gaining orientation . When starting a field study, photog raphs are useful for recordinginformation about people, locations, and events of interest. For example, photographscan document what environments look like, how they provide a context in which groupsinteract, and who is present at events. The resulting images can be reviewed to assist inrecording, coding, and analysis of field notes (Collier, 1967; Suchar, 1997).

As Stinchcombe (1984) noted, as an a cademic discipline, sociology tends to valueparsimonious and abstract findings that describe social relationships without havingto deal with the full range of complexity associated with real people and situations.The most prestigious forms of social research are based on methods such as libraryresearch, surveys and analysis of official statistics that keep investigators distantfrom the people, and processes and settings that they claim to study (Blumer, 1969;Harper, 1987; Stinchcombe, 1984). Even ethnographic data are often collected throughgatekeepers and spokespersons in office settings or in focus groups distant from theplaces where the social relations of greatest sociological significance take place.

Moreover, in describing what they have discovered, social scientists too often rely onacademic abstractions about which they know a great deal rather than situationalknowledge associated with the setting at hand about which they know much less(Harper, 1987). When we describe an occupation as service work , we gloss over whatit is like to actually perform the job; when we summarize social relations as embedded in networks , we add little to a more general understanding of the deep and intricaterelationships on which communities are based.

Through my experience of using and teaching visual sociology, I have found that theneed to create photographs in research settings can offer a corrective to this academicdistancing. Visual documentation often demands that researchers come into contact

with the participants and details of social life to a degree that exceeds what is generallyapplied in other methods. 1 For example, Vergara's (1997) photographic explorations ofinner-city environments offers a more detailed, phenomenologically rich, and ultimately
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more powerful account of life in urban America than is available in more traditionalapproaches to the topic.

I have worked to apply this procedure in my research on migrant communities.Accordingly, whenever I could, I moved out of the air-conditioned offices of restaurantsand factories into kitchens, shop floors, and warehouse s. To chronicle religiouscommunities, I often returned following interviews to observe and photographholiday celebrations. I also attended festivals, classes, weddings, baby showers, andpolitical demonstrations. In this way, the act of making photographs both required andencouraged me to confront individuals and aspects of the social world from whichI might have otherwise remained at a distance. My need to get near was further

reinforced by my reliance on wide-angle lenses that require close proximity for effective[p. v2-93 ] use (Gold, 1995c). The resulting interactions and images enhanced myown insight and my ability to share findings with colleagues.

Developing rapport . Making and sharing photographs can be helpful in generatingrapport with respondents. As Collier (1967) pointed out in Visual Anthropology , manyindividuals and groups who are unfamiliar with the goals and intentions of social scienceresearchers can comprehend the purposes of photographers. In this way, makingphotographs gives a field-worker a basis for meeting and interacting with those presentin the location of research. Once established, the initial interaction leads to anotherduring return visits when photographs are presented to their subjects.

Figure 1: Soviet Jews look at photographs that I had taken of their community.Showing photographs to members and respondents generates rapport. In addition,the comments they made while looking at prints provided me with a lot of insight into respondents knowledge of and opinions about members in their communities.


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I often began interviews by showing respondents a series of pictures that I had taken in

the course of studying their communities (see Figure 1). This allowed me to quickly andspecifically demonstrate my familiarity with the subject and environment of research. Ibelieve that this grounding often enhanced the quality of the interviews that followed.For example, at the start of a fieldwork trip among Israeli emigrants in London, Ipresented a slide talk on Israelis in the United States to several members of thecommunity that had been arranged by a local colleague. During the course of a week,I interviewed [p. v2-94 ] a number of the persons who had attended my talk. Thispresentation offered an excellent introduction and facilitated the interviews that followed.

In many cases, showing photographs to members of migrant communities can betreated as a form of photo elicitation (Harper, 2002). As respondents view imagesof their community, their comments can be very informative. Such reflections haveprovided me with significant insight into migrants views of their broader community andhow specific events and persons are regarded.

In addition, community members reactions suggest their impressions of and familiaritywith various personalities, strategies, locations, and subgroups within their communities.For example, migrants often-cynical comments about other members of theircommunities shown in photographs played an important role in making me realizethat in contrast to academic assertions about pervasive coethnic solidarity, migrantpopulations are often highly segmented and stratified (see below).

Whenever possible, I gave copies of images to the persons I had photographed.When individuals are shown pictures of themselves, even more specific comments


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are sometimes elicited. Such was the case when members of a Vietnamese familypoignantly reflected on their experience of downward mobility from relative affluencein the country of origin to their current austere circumstances in the United States.

Analysis . Most fieldwork methodologies encourage researchers to engage in asequential process of collecting, coding, and analyzing data; memo writing; andrevisiting field settings to check their observations, refine findings, and create higherlevel generalizations (Berg, 2001; Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 1995; Strauss, 1987; White,1987). Visual sociologists have understood how visual information can be useful in thiskind of research and as such, have developed a body of literature that describes wayswhich photographs can be incorporated (Gold, 1995c; Harper, 1987; Suchar, 1997).

Suchar (1997) drew on what he called Becker's (1986) interrogatory principle, wherebyimages are used to help answer sociological questions suggested by literature reviewand previous fieldwork. The resulting photos are then analyzed in light of other datato generate supplementary questions. Repeating this cycle allows a researcher toincorporate additional evidence (photographic and otherwise) and produce findings.

Case Applicationshat is the Visual inVisual Methods?The discussion that follows demonstrates some of the ways that I have usedphotography within three topics that are of general interest to scholars of internationalmigration migrant communities, ethnic economies, and the place of gender inmigration processes.

[p. v2-95 ]


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Communitieshat is the Visual in VisualMethods?Studies of immigrant communities associated with ethn ic-mobilization theory suggestthat in the modern era, major benefits are garnered by populations who organize ona broad, group-wide, or international scale (Shanahan & Olzak, 2002). Consequently,local forms of organization and group solidarity are likely to be superseded by group-level patterns. Modernization first eliminates collective action on the basis of small-scale and local cleavages (Nielsen, 1985, p. 147).

However, many recent immigrant and refugee populations are marked by diversityin terms of background, interests, experiences, and identities. For them, ethnicidentification and community formation tend to take place within subgroups that sharecommonalties rather than at the level of the entire population (Gold 1992, 1995a,2002; I. Kim, 1981; Light, Sabagh, Bozorgmehr, & Der-Martirosian, 1994; Menjivar,2001). Hence, scholars of ethnic and minority groups seek to understand the prevailingforms of group solidarity that exist within various populations. Do small networkspredominate? Are broad-based collectives more common? Or is a combination of bothforms prevalent? Finally, what group characteristics and contexts are associated with

segmented and inclusive solidarity?My research including photographs can shed some light on this debate. I foundthat Soviet Jews, Vietnamese, and Israelis cooperate among themselves and withother ethnic groups as well. However, various subgroups internal to these populationsmaintain more extensive forms of cooperation than exist within the communities atlarge.

I discerned this as I showed photographs that I had taken in the course of fieldworkto coethnics. I initially expected respondents to take pride in the upward mobility andorganizational accomplishments of their successful countrymen and countrywomen.However, respondents were often unimpressed by the achievements of elite co-nationals. They expressed feelings of alienation from those people shown in my photos


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and described them as self-serving. Figure 2 illustrates some of the differences thatexist within migrant communities.

As I investigated further, I found that networks among Soviet Jewish, Vietnamese, andIsraeli emigrants correspond to members social characteristics as well as the particularcircumstances of the context of settlement. In contrast t o negative characterizationsof successful compatriots, most respondents revealed affiliations to subgroups madeup of friends, relatives, and others with whom they shared trust and close relations.Among these groups, social capital, organization, and solidarity were strongestamong individuals who were already bonded by commonalties of origin, immigrationexperience, ideological orientation, religious outlook, class, and occupation (Coleman,

1988; Portes, 1998) (see Figure 2C). On the level of the entire

[p. v2-96 ]

Figure 2: Community. Photographs reveal diversity in social orientations and access to resources even within a single migrant community. The existence of various subgroups suggests diverse orientations and patterns of association and cooperation. Social capital is shared among those bonded by common social features. 2A (top), a Soviet Jewish doctor's association banquet. 2B (bottom), a Vietnamese American runs for political office, Orange County, California, 1994.


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[p. v2-97 ]

Figure 2 (Continued): 2C, middle-aged Israeli men who have formed a recreational flying club, Los Angeles, California.

ethnic population, various subgroups competed with each other, sometimes reinforcinglocal segmentation. Immigrants and especially refugees had learned from experiencethat co-nationals were likely to manipulate or exploit them. Accordingly, they withheldtrust from those they did not know well.


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In conclusion, at least among these populations, access to networks and resources is acontingent process. Reflecting social structure, it varies according to the characteristicsof migrants, the nature of the receiving society, and conditions in the country of origin.As suggested by photo-based interviews and other evidence, the strongest ties tendedto be maintained among those subgroups and networks already sharing high levelsof social capital. Although group members expressed a desire to develop group-widealliances, these were hard to establish and maintain. Soviet Jewish, Vietnamese, andIsraeli communities demonstrate the great deal of difficulty involved in creating viableand inclusive ethnic organizations among segmented populations. Over time, broaderforms of amalgamation may occur, but I found little evidence of them as yet.

Coethnic and Out-Group Laborhat is theVisual in Visual Methods?Since the 1960s, sociologists have revised their understanding of the place of ethnicityin social and economic life. Prior to that time, social theorists [p. v2-98 ] assertedthat as societies became more and more advanced, ascriptive characteristics race,gender, religion, and ethnicity would be of diminishing economic, social, and politicalimportance as societies became increasingly organized on the basis of skills. However,

since the 1960s, a broad range of scholars have come to understand that ethnic-basedties and resources continue to be vitally important to shaping economic life and accessto resources (Bonacich & Modell, 1980; Light & Gold, 2000; Portes & Rumbaut, 1996).

Although appreciating the importance of ethnicity in economic life, much literature onthe topic is concerned with the forms of connection, integration, and solidarity that occurwithin a single ethnic group. Portes and Bach (1985) showed how Cuban entrepreneurswork together and hire recently arrived coethnics to maintain a powerful ethnic economyin Miami, one that offers coethnics better earnings than generally available to Cubanswho find jobs in the larger economy. Illsoo Kim (1981) and Min (1996) made similararguments about Korean Americans economic pursuits. However, in recent years, anumber of scholars have noted the ways by which ethnic entrepreneurs take advantageof their connections with other ethnic populations, institutions, and social developmentsto create jobs, successfully manage businesses, and increase earnings.


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Through fieldwork that included photography, I found that it is true that many migrantgroups have a desire to help their countrymen and countrywomen by providing jobsand advice. Loyalty alone, however, is a poor basis for running a business. A deeperlook reveals that the issue of coethnic employment is a complex one. Soviet Jews,Vietnamese, and Israelis'desires to hire coethnics are often constrained by economicrealties involving the costs and accessibility of coethnic workers versus other potentialemployees that are available in the labor market.

Drawing from Becker's (1986) suggestion to pose sociological questions that couldbe addressed visually, I asked, Who is employed in ethnic businesses and what isthe relationship between employers and workers? As I observed, photographed, and

discussed this question, I developed a better understanding of it (see Figure 3).

During interviews, members of all three groups described coethnics as easier tocommunicate with than out-group members as well as being more resourceful,knowledgeable, predictable, and sometimes, trustworthy. At the same time, theyalso mentioned the disadvantages associated with hiring co-nationals. 2 As a resultof coethnic expectations, business owners claimed that workers must be givenprivileges (including preferential treatment and higher wages) not extended to out-groupmembers. A London-based Israeli real estate broker who formerly ran a restaurantdescribed why she avoided co-national employees:

I had two chefs one from Thailand and an Israeli woman and theirattitude was completely different. She was always moody, having a long[p. v2-99 ] face. I needed to constantly pacify her. On the other hand,with him, I had no problems what so ever. He recognized who is theboss, and complied with my demands. With her, I needed to plan aheadevery conversation. (Gold, 2002, pp. 7374)

Figure 3: Soviet Jewish owner of an auto repair shop with Afghani and Russian mechanics
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[p. v2-101 ]

Figure 4 (Continued): 4B, Israeli entrepreneurs employing Latino workers

origins in shared communal sources, the potential for coethnic competition isconsiderable. Accordingly, Soviet Jewish, Vietnamese, and Israeli entrepreneurs are

generally concerned with competition control.


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Yossi, an Israeli building contractor in Los Angeles, California, described his experiencewith coethnic employees. Despite (or perhaps, because of) the fact that they acted inthe same way he had, he regretfully resolved not to hire Israelis in the future:

Investigator : Did you ever have friction with your Israeli employees?Yossi : Well you see, Israelis, I find most of the m are like me. They tookme as an example for them. They want to also become self-employed. Ithink it's just the nature of the Israeli.

So there were sometimes friction and also they care too much about thedetails of how I run my company, and I don't like that. I don't want to say

that they are spying, but they copy me which is perfectly okay, but onlyas long as it helps me.

Investigator : Yeah. They'll open their own business and then make itharder for you.

Yossi : Right. But I understand that and I accept that as long as they arenot cheating on me that's fine with me. But if I need to be somewhereelse for a while and a potential customer comes to the work site andasks for a contractor and they give their card or leave their number that's [p. v2-102 ] cheating. I don't accept. So I need to be careful ofIsraelis and now I hire Mexican workers more. (Gold, 2002, p. 77)

Vietnamese too found out-group labor to be beneficial in running ethnic businesses.Rather than employing fellow refugees, they increasingly relied on Mexican, Chicano,and Central American workers. A Chinese-Vietnamese journalist who had extensivecontacts in the business community explained why many coethnic businesses employLatinos: Mexican, no green card, so you pay cheap. I pay you $5 an hour, but I payMexican $3 an hour. Mexicans are strong, and if I need to fire him, he just goes (Gold,1994, p. 213). Reliance on Latino workers had become so common that during visits tothe garment district of Los Angeles, California, I frequently observed and photographed

signs in grammatically flawed Spanish, suggesting that Latino workers were sought bynon-coethnic employers (see Figure 4A).


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Finally, Soviet migr business owners avoided employing coethnic workers becausethey lacked the skills and characteristics needed in their enterprises. For example,a Ukrainian couple employed a Chicana seamstress in their clothing outlet. Not onlydid she help with the sewing but she also facilitated relations with Spanish-speakingcustomers. Visiting this shop over a period of years, I got to know both the owner andthe employee pretty well. At least in this case, the Ukrainian couple maintained closerelations with their single employee. In a pattern unlike that associated with manyemployers of Latino workers, they treated her well and often left her in charge of theshop.

The use of photography helped me notice, document, and explore the use of out-

group labor in ethnic businesses. In so doing, I was moved to challenge widely heldassertions regarding the role of coethnic cooperation in making these enterprises viable.In recent years, several scholars have published studies validating my findings as theydescribe the employment of one migrant group by another. My research, influenced byphotography, played a role in contributing to this new approach (Chinn, 2001; D. Y. Kim,1999; Lee, 2000). In turn, this growing body of work is clarifying our understanding ofethnic economies.

Genderhat is the Visual in Visual

Methods?Popular debate often emphasizes family values and gender roles as being centralto migrant groups social and economic fate (Sowell, 1981). However, relatively littlesystematic research has been devoted to examining the gender patterns of migrantfamilies. As a consequence, many assertions regarding the role of gender in migrantsadaptation overemphasize the influence of invariant group culture on outcomes whiledisregarding contextual effects.

[p. v2-103 ]

Consider the example of Korean women's behavior. Korean women have an extremelylow rate of labor force participation in Korea but a high one in the United States (Min,


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1998). Aphorisms about Korean family values are thus incapable of accounting forsuch a dramatic transformation in family arrangements. Alternatively, the importance ofa group's experience and context must be considered.

Instead of relying on assertions of cultural determinism to account for gendered patternsamong migrant groups, another approach stresses the skills and outlooks shared bymembers of an ethnic group: the tool kit of experience-based symbols, stories, rituals,and worldviews that people may use in varying configurations to direct action and solvedifferent kinds of problems they confront (Swidler, 1986, p. 273). A growing number ofscholars have found this approach to be helpful in understanding the complex patternsof gender that exist within migrant populations (Fernndez-Kelly & Garca, 1990;

Gabaccia, 1994; Hondagneu-Sotelo, 1994; Kibria, 1993). Although they acknowledgethat gender norms exist among migrant (and indeed all social) groups, scholars findthat most cultures include contradictory prescriptions about gender (e.g., women shouldstay at home; parents need to work to support their children) and moreover, normsare interpreted according to immediate concerns. Whatever their cultural preferences,women, men, and families generally make decisions about work, caring for children,gaining education, involving themselves in community organizations, and other issuesaccording to context.

Among Soviet Jewish, Vietnamese, and Israel immigrants, I observed diverseapproaches with regard to gender, reflecting circumstances. Photographic evidencesuggests the context-driven diversity in the gender arrangements maintainedwithin these populations. Such evidence provides a useful corrective to blanketgeneralizations about the supposed gender orientations of various nationalities. Inaddition, an examination of who appears in photographs highlights how gender patternswere implicated in my own fieldwork interactions with respondents.

Vietnamese refugees reveal probably the most multiform array of gender arrangements,reflecting generational, cultural, economic, and class diversity within their largerpopulation and the myriad circumstances they confront in adapting to new environments(see Figures 2B, 5, and 6).

For example, members of the same network of recently arrived Vietnamese familieswith whom I conducted fieldwork in Oakland, California, during the early 1980s


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maintained very different gendered relations with me. During 2 years of weeklyvisits, the La family made up of two brothers, a sister, and two male cousins never introduced me to the female member of their household, even though theyoften described her and showed me examples of her schoolwork. My relations wereexclusively with males.

In contrast, visits with the Dinh household, which included a married couple, male andfemale cousins, and a young daughter, always included

[p. v2-104 ]

Figure 5: Recently arrived Vietnamese men hold a party in a cramped downtown Oakland, California, apartment.

Figure 6: Vietnamese refugees protest against the government of Vietnam. Political leadership for such events is generally organized by men.


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[p. v2-105 ]

both male and females. In addition, the Dinhs introduced me to several male and femalefriends and relatives who were not part of the domicile. This example demonstratesthat two families who shared common nationality, social network, location, and refugeestatus maintained distinctly different patterns of gender ed sociability (Gold, 1992).

Although diversity was evident among these populations, gender arrangements werenot simply random. For example, among the Vietnamese, women were heavily involvedin entrepreneurship, with men often attempting to establish high-prestige careersin existing firms or the nonprofit sector. This was most evident among high-status

refugees wherein men had been in the military or government prior to entering theUnited States and sought to take on activist roles within the refugee community (seeFigure 6). These men sometimes found positions in the refugee resettlement system(Gold, 1992). Vietnamese women explained that they readily entered self-employmentbecause in Vietnam, small business is understood to be an extension of domesticduties and also because shortages of men during the war years yielded an increaseddemand for women's labor. Over time, women sometimes became more successfulbreadwinners than men (Kibria, 1993) (see Figure 7). However, depending on theirresources, opportunities, and needs, women too, took bureaucratic positions, whereasmen became entrepreneurs.

Figure 7: Vietnamese female employer and a Latino worker

Israelis followed an opposite pattern with regard to gender. Men revealed very highrates of self-employment most of the self-employed Israelis that I photographed weremen. Their substantial earnings permitted their wives to maintain lower rates of labor


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force participation. For their part, Israeli women often engaged in social networkingto acquire assistance for the [p. v2-106 ] domestic activities with which they werecharged, to develop a social life, and to provide Israeli-style cultural and linguisticactivities for their children. A considerable fraction of Israeli women have trainingand skills in areas relevant to community work teaching, social work, and the like.Consequently, they drew on these skills in delivering services to their community and tonative-born co-religionists as well (see Figure 8).

Figure 8: Israeli community leaders network at the Los Angeles Jewish Federation building. In addition to their volunteer efforts on behalf of their community, many hold

jobs that involve communal connections insurance, real estate sales, and ethnic

media.

Even when Israeli immigrant women followed income-generating careers, these ofteninvolved community work as journalists, teachers, real estate salespeople, and thelike (Gold, 1995b, 2002). Moreover, many suggested that networking provided themwith a degree of empowerment and access to resources whether they worked for payor not. Because Israeli migrant women were so extensively involved in activism, theywere my key communal contacts, and I employed several as research assistants duringa decade of fieldwork research on their group (Gold, 2002). This pattern is evident in myphotos (see Figure 8).

Finally, having grown up in the former Soviet system that mandated employment ofboth women and men and provided education in technical and professional fields forboth genders, Soviet Jewish men and women [p. v2-107 ] alike focused on paid


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employment, often in technical and professional fields (see Figure 3). Furthermore,members of this group were often less oriented toward communal activism than manyother migrant populations, largely because they are unfamiliar with it. (Prior to the1990s, organizational life in the Soviet Union took place only under government control.)Accordingly, among Jews from the former Soviet Union, neither gender manifests asignificant propensity toward activism, whereas both women and men are involved inwork (Gold, 1995a, 2003). Some forms of communal activism and leadership withinthis population are furnished by the Orthodox Jewish Chabad movement, within whichmale rabbis take dominant roles (Gold, 1995a) (see Figure 1). Like the Soviet Jews, afraction of the Israeli emigrant population is also involved in gendered religious activitiesin which adult women and men interact and pray separately.

As noted, despite these patterns of gendered adjustment, each group showed aconsiderable degree of variation in its gender arrangements, with both men and womenengaging in domestic care, income generation, and communal activism. Documentation(photographic and otherwise) of such diverse strategies suggests that migrant familiesgender arrangements reflect practical concerns as much as they do idealized notionsabout how women and men should behave.

Conclusionshat is the Visual in Visual

Methods?When integrated with other research techniques, photography has been beneficial tomy studies of migrant adaptation. Admittedly, many of the social patterns that I discusscould not have been discovered through the use of photography alone. However,the incorporation and analysis of visual information helped me to learn more aboutthe groups in question and also connect my observations with existing sociologicalknowledge.

Showing photographs to respondents assisted me with establishing rapport and oftenyielded insightful comments about the nature of the communities in question. The actof taking photographs encouraged me to approach, observe, and think about the socialworld in a much more focused and empirically based manner than would have been


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the case had I not used photography. Photographs provided me with an additional formof evidence that I used to confirm, refine, or question existing sociological knowledge.Photographs helped me to illustrate the diversity of behavior patterns that exist withingroups and social categories thus, challenging overly general characterizations ofgroups. Finally, photographs offered a means of sharing analysis and research findingswith students and colleagues.

My use of photography as one of many tools for the exploration of social issues may notsatisfy those who seek to develop a fully visual social science. [p. v2-108 ] However,these techniques do offer means of including a visual dimension in the investigation of awide range of topics and circumstances. As such, this approach offers potential benefits

for numerous scholars.

Notes1. Research manuals encourage fieldworkers to get close to participants and observeactivities firsthand. However, many recent ethnographic works rely on formal interviewsas their primary method.

2. Workers often sought to avoid coethnic employers as well to obtain better wages,benefits, and working conditions (Gold, 2002; Light & Gold 2000).

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