Video diaries as a technique to approach social practices

This study examines the effectiveness of video diaries as a methodological tool for capturing social practices in their three dimensions: materialities, competencies, and meanings. Using examples from our research on the culinary practices of young vegans in Santiago, Chile, we demonstrate how this technique provides rich, situated insights into everyday life. Our result shows that video diaries enable real-time, immersive documentation, capturing both materialities and competencies through their multimodal nature. They also foster reflexivity by disrupting routine behaviors, prompting participants to articulate the significance of their actions through a narrative process with an absent researcher. Additionally, video diaries grant agency to participants, allowing them to control their self-representation, though this also introduces performativity. Despite challenges in analysis and ethical considerations, this study highlights video diaries as a powerful tool for qualitative research, offering nuanced access to the dynamic and embodied nature of social practices across diverse contexts.