Action Research:

Is educative; Deals with individuals as members of social groups; Is problem-focused, context-specific and future-orientated; Involves a change intervention; Involves a cyclic process in which research, action and evaluation are interlinked; Aims at improvement and involvement; Is founded on a research relationship in which those involved are participants in the change process. (Hart E. and Bond M 1995)

A PAR model which combines research, education and action, challenges the "North American and European model based on empiricism and positivism and characterized by an attention to instrument construction and rigor defined by statistical precision and replaceability (Hall 1994:3330)."

PAR, PR participatory rural appraisal (PRA) are all part of a family of methodologies "... that enable people to express and analyse the realities of their lives and conditions, to plan themselves what action to take, and to monitor and evaluate the results ­ it emphasises processes which empower local people" (IDS Policy Briefing Issue 7: August 1996.)

"A number of basic assumptions underlie participatory approaches to research and evaluation: 1) Inquiry is not neutral, but is socially constructed. 2). Research and evaluation are political processes. Someone gains from the process and products of inquiry. Science is a cultural product; it is not context free. 3). What is investigated and how it is implemented are grounded in the historical, cultural, political and economic context within which it is conducted. 4). Experts are not the only ones who can create valid knowledge. Ordinary people are capable of generating knowledge that is as important and as valid as that produced by more highly structured and scientific processes." (Whitmore 1998)

Participatory Research (PR) contributes to building community relationships. "John Gaventa writes eloquently about this in Power and Powerlessness. Working with others to investigate the sources of strength and oppression in a community creates possibilities to create change, to mobilise the energy and talents of the community members, and to discover and secure outside resources. Effective research includes learning how to organise and intervene strategically, how to work in groups, and how to deal with conflicts internal to the community." (cited in Minewatch re: Gaventa 1980)

"Research practices that have been described as evolving in opposition to colonial and neocolonial social science research paradigms have provided academic elite in many geographical locations with a new frame for the solidarity they claim with social justice movements. In the last two decades, participatory research (PR) has emerged across various disciplines including sociology, adult education, community development, native studies, environmental studies, and community health. This discourse of `emancipatory' or `participatory' research is constructed as an oppositional practice, as a tool or framework for pursuing an anti­subordination or social justice agenda."(Fischer 1996)

"Countless groups make use of processes that resemble participatory research without naming it or certainly without asking for outside validation of the knowledge produced (Hall 1994:1334)."

"Knowledge or information is a potential source of power and, as such, it ought not to be the exclusive domain of dominant institutions..." (Jackson, Kassam, 1998),

"PAR aims to validate other forms of knowledge, especially popular knowledge, and give control of knowledge generation to local people." (Fals-Borda and Rahman 1991, Selener 1997 in MA thesis).

Action Research (research that is embedded in human action/activity rather than keeping at a distance) has developed in Social Science, the issues raised involve the nature of science, that status of "knowledge", the relation between science and spiritual values, the relation between objective and subjective knowings ... Many different perspectives are given on the nature of "knowing". One that has already been discussed in Network is the Reason and Heron's stages of knowing, progressing through experiential, aesthetic, propositional and practical forms (p 179). Others that I found particularly interesting were the discussions of Habermas' threefold division of knowing into the objective, moral/social, and subjective (Peter Park, p 84), raising for me interesting comparisons with three of Wilber's quadrants. But perhaps the dominant critique of the nature of knowing centred around what June Boyce-Tillman (in her book The Wounds that Sing) calls "subjugated ways of knowing", a classification based on the relation of knowing to the power-status of groups in society. review Reason To understand this, one must note (as is demonstrated in chapter after chapter) that the practice of science, as a human activity, is inextricably bound up with the politics of power. review Reason

"Participatory Research is “...not a methodology of research with the subject/subject relationship evolving into symmetrical, horizontal or nonexploitive patterns in social, economic and political life. [PAR is] part of social activism, with an ideological and spiritual commitment to promote people’s collective praxis.” (Fals-Borda in Frideres, Ed. 1992:15)"

Reseau culture "Elle s'insurge aussi contre la notion newtonienne et positiviste-instrumentaliste du savoir distancié (le sujet face à l'objet de son savoir...Moreno, le père du psycho-drame ou socio-drame avait dès 1913 inventé la notion de "Aktionsforschung" (recherche-action) en travaillant comme médecin dans le milieu des prostituées à Vienne (Autriche)." "Celui qui est considéré comme le père de la recherche-action est Kurt Lewin, lequel avait initié avec des jeunes une méthode "qui commence là où le client se trouve". Il invita des jeunes à analyser leur propre situation. Il voulait éviter la coupure entre la production du savoir et les "objets" de ce savoir. Il voulut au contraire intégrer les gens en tant qu'acteurs dans la réflexion qui finirait par les affecter. La spirale recherche-action-recherche-action a pour but fondamental la démocratisation."

"The conduct of human inquiries within this worldview is emancipatory in a broad political sense in that inquiry supports people in learning through experience, in creating and owning their own knowledge...[...] In an epistemological sense, human inquiry also helps people move away from restrictive frameworks for understanding themselve and their possible actions in the world towards a more grounded understanding of themselves in relation to the human communities in which they participate." (Moggridge A. and Peter Reason. 1996. Human Inquiry: Steps Towards Emancipatory Practice. Systems Practice, 9 (2), 159-175.) WWW Moggridge

"The last decade has seen exciting innovations and a tremendous spread of participatory tools and methods, and a wholesale but often uncritical adoption of participatory approaches. There is a need for a more critical stance - to improve the capacity of ourselves and others for reflection and analysis; to think not only of methods but also of the purposes and values which they promote; to deepen and consolidate knowledge of what works, for whose benefit, to what ends, and why. In encouraging these critical and theoretical reflections, our stance must be proactive, to promote the quality and rigor of intellectual and methodological debate, and to encourage continuous reflective praxis." Institute of Development Studies, Sussex Robert Chambers

For some "...the enthusiastic adoption of participatory rhetoric by these institutions [such as the World Bank]and the near orthodoxy of support for participatory approaches amongst donors, NGOs and governments is less a cause for celebration. Participation, they would contend, has become a legitimating device, drawing on the moral authority of claims to involve the poor in defining and pursuing their own development to place the pursuit of other agendas beyond reproach. For them, much of what is hailed as 'participation' consists of a mere technical fix that leaves unchallenged the global and local relations of inequality in which poverty and powerlessness remain embedded." Institute of Development Studies, Sussex Robert Chambers

UjamaaThe philosophy of Ujamaa and Self-Reliance, concepts of what we would call today Afro-centric development and local economic development were open challenges to the way that the rich countries saw the world. Tanzania and Tanzanians were is so many ways telling the world that the 'emperor has no clothes'. Nyerere, himself a former teacher, had written much about the capacity of education to unchain people just as it had been used by the colonial powers to enchain a people.

"[F]ew other social movements have in recent years so thoroughly adopted participatory research as a tool to attain their goals as has the Aboriginal movement..." (Jackson 1993:49)

"...the laws, policies and guidelines that pertain to research in Inuit communities and within the Inuit homeland are not ones Inuit have created but rather government, professional institutions and associations have established. It is these bodies and institutions that also have access to the scarce funding available for research. Now things are beginning to change with land claims and self-government negotiations." (Flaherty 1995).

"In our work at Pauktuutit, there is a growing concern among Inuit women about the exploitation and appropriation of Inuit knowledge, practices and culture by well-intentioned, well-meaning researchers." (Flaherty 1995).

We hear a lot about researchers who use the “participatory action research model.” Our experience has taught us that participatory [end p. 179]research does not mean the community has a real role in deciding what the research topic will be, analyzing the data or deciding what or how the information obtained in the research will be used or distributed." (Flaherty 1995).

"The extent and speed by which participatory strategies and processes are being coopted and appropriated by dominant forces invites critical scrutiny of what the representions within PR discourse enable. It is crucial to develop strategies for constructing research narratives that interrupt the competing regimes of truth that mark the production of racialized identities and narratives." (Fischer 1996)

"Close relations between Aboriginal leadership and the state have embedded a capitalist managerial ideology in Aboriginal organizations." (Jackson 1993:58)

"Academics' and community activists' understanding of the inherent constraints of the project and the strategy of having multiple "outlets" of research findings were key to resolving this tension."

I wanted to be useful to the project... I didn't mind if what I had to say showed up in the report, because we could take what we had and write an article. So we had our own outlet, our own voice. (University-based partner)"

"An immediate objective...is to return to the people the legitimacy of the knowledge they are capable of producing through their own verification systems, as fully scientific, and the right to use this knowledge, but not be dictated by it­­as a guide in their own action." Fals-Borda, Orlando and Mohammad Anisur Rahman (Eds.) Action and Knowledge: Breaking the Monopoly with Participatory Action Research. New York: APEX Press, l991:15.

Indigenous knowledge

(IK) "refers to the unique, traditional, local knowledge existing within and developed around the specific conditions of women and men indigenous to a particular geographic area." IK systems are dynamic. They are a culmination of generations of experiences, trial-and-error experiments and careful observations. IK is shared and communicated orally and by example (observation). (Grenier 1998:1, 2)

The Erosion of IK Systems IK, biodiversity and cultural diversity are threatened by

rapid modernization and cultural homogenization. Traditional channels of oral communication have been disrupted through displacement of family members, the imposition of western education systems and the introduction of communication systems such as television. IK has been either ignored or maligned by racist and/or ethnocentric colonial powers and scientists who placed complete faith in the progress of modernity and western science. (p.4-5)Nationalistic governments promote one language and one culture to the detriment of indigenous cultures. Formal schooling reinforces negative attitudes. (Grenier, Louise. 1998. Working with Indigenous Knowledge: A Guide for Researchers. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre IDRC Books)

Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit "ITC supports the policy initiative of the Nunavut

Social Development Council for emphasizing Inuit knowledge of the environment, ecology and cultural heritage as part of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. The term Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. (IQ) encompasses all aspects of traditional Inuit culture including values, world-view, language, social organization, knowledge, life skills, perceptions, and expectations." (ITC)

(TEK) Traditional knowledge.

"The ultimate aim of the Guidelines is to help develop a framework within which affected indigenous peoples can expect to receive information that will allow them to choose, on an appropriate collective basis through free and prior informed consent, whether a development project should go ahead. In the event they choose to go ahead, that they are offered the opportuntity to participate in the planning and implementation of the project, using their traditional knowledge systems to help guide the decisions that will affect their future, and that the use of that knowledge and their participation is handled with respect, trust, equity and empowerment." (Emery 2000)

"We look upon the north as our last frontier," he said. "It is natural for us to think of developing the north, of subduing the land, populating it with people from southern Canada, and extracting its resources to fuel Canada's industry and heat our homes. Our whole inclination is to think in terms of expanding our industrial machine to the limit of our country's frontiers. But the native people are saying to us, why do you say the north is your last frontier? Why should you develop it? They feel it is their homeland, that they should determine what is to happen there. They say, we have lived here for thousands of years. We are the majority. What right have you to tell us what the future must hold for us? What right have you to exploit the resources of the land where we live? It is a question being asked of the white race all over the world." (Berger CBC cited in Report )

"One type of participatory research is action research (AR). AR, developed in the context of organizational and industrial efforts to improve performance, is where management (or some party that holds power) defines the research problem and determines how the results will be used, though workers or community members are incorporated in the intermediate stages of research in order to tap into their knowledge and abilities (Brown and Tandon 1983). Another form of participatory research is participatory action research (PAR), which has roots in radical philosophies and in movements of groups with little power in developing countries (Selener 1997). In PAR, the group of people attempting to solve a practical problem controls the entire process (Hall 1982). MA Thesis Ecotourism Mexico

"Volk is a much more comprehensive term than people." (Mosse, George. 1964 The Crisis of German Ideology) "...to German thinkers ever since the birth of German romanticism in the late eighteenth century Volk signified the union of a group of people with a transcendental "essence." This "essence" might be called "nature" or "cosmos" or "mythos," but in each instance it was fused to man's innermost nature, and represented the source of his creativity, his depth of feeling, his individuality, and his unity with other members of the Volk. (Mosse, George. 1964 The Crisis of German Ideology cited in Essay European History )

LITERACY: "To support his argument that vernacular literacy is transitional to literacy in other stronger languages, Mühlhäusler (1990) cites a statement by Gudschinsky (1968: 150), namely a person does not need to learn how to read and write twice but only once because that knowledge of reading and writing transfers from one language to the other. This, however, does not match his point of argument. It is not about an inevitable one-way change of language but about the transfer of the knowledge between two languages. The transitional nature of vernacular literacy is more a matter of language and education policy than of literacy itself." tAUSCH

Fischer, Wendy. 1996. "Race and Representation: The Construction of Identity in Participatory Research." Paper presented at CASID Annual Conference. St. Catherines: Brock University. http://www.brocku.ca/epi/casid/fischer.htm

Gaventa, John. 1980. Power and Powerlessness, Quiescence and Rebellion in an Appalachian Valley. University of Illinois Press.

Grenier, Louise. 1998. Working with Indigenous Knowledge: A Guide for Researchers.

Ottawa: International Development Research Centre IDRC Books

Jackson, Edward T. and Yusuf Kassam. Eds. Knowledge Shared: Participatory Evaluation in Development Cooperation.

Hall, Budd. 1994. "Participatory Research" in Husen, T. and Postlethwaite, T.N. (Editors-in-Chief) The International Encyclopedia of Education. Second Edition, Vol 7, London: Elsevier Science Lmt., pp. 4330-4336.

Hart E and Bond M (1995) Action-Research for Health and Social Care: A Guide to Practice, Open University Press.

Fals-Borda, Orlando and Mohammad Anisur Rahman. Eds. 1991. Action and Knowledge: Breaking the Monopoly with Participatory Action Research. New York: APEX Press.

MiningWatch Canada. 2000. "On the Ground Research:A Research Agenda for

Communities Affected by Large-Scale Mining Activity."Ottawa: International Development Research Centre. November 6. http://www.miningwatch.ca/publications/Research_agenda.html

Tauchi, Yuko. 2000. "Who decides? Introducing literacy to preliterate societies: Pros and cons" Master of Applied Linguistics Minor Project. The Centre for Studies of Language in Education. Darwin, AU: Northern Territory University. http://www.ntu.edu.au/education/csle/student/tauchi/tauchi0.html

Whitmore, Elizabeth. 1998."We Need to Rebuild This House": The Role of Empowerment in Evaluation of a Mexican Farmers' Cooperative." in Jackson, Edward T. and Yusuf Kassam. Eds. Knowledge Shared: Participatory Evaluation in Development Cooperation. pp. 217 - 231.