Re-Centering Around the Foundational Concepts of PAR

This summer we are revisiting some key PAR concepts. We chose the following readings to ground some of our thoughts and ideas around: knowledge, action, participation, solidarity, collaboration and reflection

Here are some guiding questions to keep in mind, both in relation to the readings and our own work:

  • How do these readings help shape my thoughts and work?
  • How is PAR understood and used in similar and varying ways, by these different authors?
  • How does context shape PAR processes?
  • What are some ways that PAR is transformative in nature and practice?
  • How is PAR is different from traditional research methodologies?

Please read with us and share your thoughts and comments. We will be building on this list, and offering some of our reflections. Feel free to also send us articles, or book suggestions. We look forward to reading with you!

Introduction to Participatory Action Research

Fals-Borda, Orlando & Rahman, Mohammad Anisur. (1991).  Action and Knowledge: Breaking the Monopoly with Participatory Action Research, New York, NY: Apex Press.

The authors of this collection, edited by Fals-Borda and Rahman, outline the theoretical and defining principles and historical overview of PAR. Within a PAR context, each author carefully re-examines and redefines terms, such as self-reliance, empowerment, development, and democracy. Through concrete examples of people’s movements from the 5 continents, the authors reflect on questions central to shaping a PAR process that is grounded in people’s experience. Topics explored include ways of disrupting the subject/object relationship of traditional research, the role and qualities of an outside animator, and settings necessary to nurture a self-sustaining people’s movement.

Lykes, M. Brinton. (2006, March 2). Looking for Activists in Unlikely Places: One White Southern Woman’s Journey, Founder’s Day Speech, Hollins.

In this speech, Lykes describes the global realities of poverty, human rights violations, and human suffering and discusses how individuals and organizations can respond creatively and in solidarity.  She points out the importance of listening to personal narratives, looking around at our surroundings, and moving out of constructed centers of power in order to create a more just social reality.

Merrifield, Juliet.  (1997, February). Knowing, Learning, Doing, Participatory Action Research, NCSALL, 1 (A). Retrieved from:http://www.ncsall.net/index.php@id=479.html

This article poses central questions behind PAR: Why do we do research? Who benefits from it? Who uses the information we gather and what for? What is worth researching? Merrifield discusses PAR not as a research methodology, but as an approach to research and learning. This article discusses the ideas central to PAR: participation, action, and knowledge.

Wadsworth, Yolanda. (1998). What is Participatory Action Research? Action Research International, Paper 2.  

Wadsworth’s paper, from the online journal Action Research International, contrasts PAR with conventional forms of research. The author describes PAR as social research that is conscious and collectivist in nature. She stresses that PAR is always participatory and allows for action, critical reflection, and inquiry throughout the process.

Weber-Pillwax, Cora. (2009). When Research Becomes a Revolution: Participatory Action Research with Indigenous Peoples. In Dip Kapoor & Steven Jordan (Eds.), Education, Participatory Action Research, and Social Change (pp. 45 – 58), New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Weber-Pillwax reflects on her experience growing up in northern Alberta, Canada and learning Indigenous Research Methodologies (IRM), and the parallels between this methodology and PAR. Weber-Pillwax contrasts PAR to traditional research methods, highlighting the ways a PAR process requires the intimate involvement of the researcher and the researched and prioritizes collective over individual research methods. Weber-Pillwax asserts that PAR research must be engaged with a desire and willingness to work for transformation or change, whether personal and/or collective.