RECLAIMING DIVERSITY & CITIZENSHIP
The authors of People’s Knowledge and Participatory Action Research, who are mainly non-academics, open up new dimensions of understanding by sharing their perspectives on the production and validation of knowledge. The book addresses some of the tensions between traditional and more radical participatory and action-orientated approaches to research. It offers signposts for how knowledge might be truly co-produced in a spirit of mutual learning and respect. It also outlines some of the most promising approaches to building future alliances to create a ‘people’s knowledge’ that treats equally the professional researcher and expert-by-experience. This book should be read by all those interested in research for social and environmental justice in general, and participatory and action approaches to research in particular, including in the fields of: community development; health and medicine; environment and development; anti-racism; human rights; and gender studies. ‘This book offers a radical exploration of the deep knowledge held within communities under siege by neoliberalism and traditional forms of science.’ Michelle Fine, Distinguished Professor of Social Psychology, Women’s Studies and Urban Education, City University of New York. ‘This book is an important contribution to helping all of us – academics and grassroots-led researchers – to think through what it means to collaborate.’ Keri Facer, Professor of Educational & Social Futures, University of Bristol and AHRC Leadership Fellow, Connected Communities. ‘This engrossing and timely collection exposes the weaknesses of conventional academic research.’ Hilary Bradbury, Editor of the Handbooks of Action Research and Action Research journal The People’s Knowledge Editorial Collective includes pioneering and award-winning practitioners of participatory action research and other critical approaches to knowledge co-production. They have worked with a range of organizations and individuals that have attempted participatory and inclusive approaches to undertaking research, including the Mayor of London, Greenpeace, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the International School of Bottom-up Organizing, Nomad, European Commission and UK Research Councils. The Reclaiming Diversity and Citizenship Series seeks to encourage debate outside mainstream policy and conceptual frameworks towards an equitable and sustainable future based on social and ecological diversity, human rights, and more inclusive forms of citizenship. Contributors to the Series are encouraged to reflect deeply on their ways of working and outcomes of their research, highlighting implications for policy, knowledge, organizations, and practice.
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PEOPLE’S KNOWLEDGE AND PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH People’s Knowledge Editorial Collective
The world of research is dominated by people who are white, upper-middle class and male. Those from communities that have previously been excluded are increasingly being sought to join universities and other institutions in ‘participatory’ or ‘engaged’ research. However, they are seldom able to take part on equal terms. Instead of being supported to draw on the expertise that they have gained from their life experience, they find themselves trapped in a ‘white-walled labyrinth’.
People’s Knowledge and Participatory Action Research Escaping the White-Walled Labyrinth
People’s Knowledge Editorial Collective
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