Video-Ethnography as Duty of Care: A Gendered Perspective on Community Resilience in Dublin’s Inner City

While visual methods are gaining traction in urban research, the application of collaborative video ethnography remains limited. Researchers interested in spatial justice interventions can leverage the combined theoretical and methodological strengths of critical urban ethnography and social documentary techniques to (a) vividly reveal the material impacts of inequality and domination, (b) document embodied practices and everyday experiences that would otherwise remain unseen, and (c) enhance public understanding and the practical relevance of research findings. This chapter examines a community’s efforts to achieve “fair regeneration” of their social housing estate in a gentrifying inner-city Dublin neighborhood. Through Collaborative Video Ethnography (CVE), the research emphasizes shared agency, where participants actively shape the ethnographic narrative alongside the researcher. This approach empowers participants as co-creators, amplifying their voices and perspectives in documenting their fight against inadequate housing, insecurity, and social exclusion. More critically, conducting video ethnography from the margins offers alternative pathways to traditional inquiry, urging urban researchers to take an active stance against hegemonic practices. There is an urgent need to care for the lives of our research participants. They survive amid perpetual crisis, and their everyday physical and emotional struggles should not remain invisible.