Creative Expressions of Agency: Contemplating Youth Voice and Adult Roles in Participatory Action Research

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (13) ◽  
pp. 135-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Jones ◽  
Carmine Stewart ◽  
Anne Galletta ◽  
Jennifer Ayala
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Educational Policies ◽  
Youth Voice ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Community Issues ◽  
Adult Roles

In this chapter, we examine youth voice within intergenerational collectives where youth and adults are in consultation with each other about school and community issues. The three projects discussed in this chapter reflect the use of participatory action research (PAR) to address educational policies and practices viewed as counterproductive by youth within poor and working class neighborhoods. The use of PAR to inform policy makers and establish alternative educational approaches reflects a critical theoretical framework in that it considers the complexity of experiences and social identities among youth who are positioned differently in relation to educational and opportunity access. The use of the arts as a strategy for inquiry and action is discussed as a way to identify alternative frames of analysis—ways of seeing from different angles the explanations offered by decision makers for the use of particular educational policies. The chapter outlines strategic planning for public engagement at significant junctures of the PAR projects to ensure youth voices are heard and prevailing discourses and theories of action challenged, thus bringing into clear focus the imperative for more equitable and humanizing conditions within education.

What is the Role of Adult Facilitators in Critical Participatory Action Research? Employing Affective Labor While Navigating the Politics and the Perils Alongside Minoritized Youth Researchers

2021 ◽  
pp. 089590482110592
Author(s):  
Van T. Lac ◽  
Ana Carolina Antunes ◽  
Julia Daniel ◽  
Janiece Mackey
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Educational Policies ◽  
Youth Voice ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Affective Labor ◽  
Labor Theory ◽  
Critical Participatory Action Research

Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) represents a tool for minoritized youth in shaping educational policies. Despite its promise, the politics of engaging in CPAR within structures ensnared in hegemonic ideologies can negate, devalue, and deny the contributions of youth voice. This study highlights how adult facilitators supporting youth researchers negotiate methodological tensions when the politics nested within oppressive structures converge with the ideals of CPAR. Using LatCrit methodology and employing affective labor theory, this qualitative study offers four counterstories interrogating the role of adult allies in CPAR, navigating the politics and perils of engaging in this work alongside minoritized students.

scholarly journals A Participatory Action Research Method in a Rural Community of Mexico

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubi Arellano ◽  
Fabricio Balcazar ◽  
Sergio Suarez ◽  
Francisco Alvarado
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Community Interventions ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Need To Evaluate ◽  
Community Issues ◽  
To Come

For several decades, community interventions have promoted community development with strategies involving capacity building, advocacy, social change, and empowerment. Although community interventions intend to ameliorate social and economic inequalities, there is still a need to evaluate the outcomes of Participatory Action Research (PAR). PAR approaches have demonstrated to be a helpful tool for addressing and identifying community issues and strengths, while leading community members into action. The PAR approach described in this case study of “Ciudad Renace” (Town Reborn)—the Concerns Report Method (CRM)—provided a process for the community to come together and identify main issues, organize, and take actions. The findings suggest multiple activities and outcomes in areas like environmental contamination, social services, and education. Participatory methodologies like the Concerns report Method provided opportunities for community members to become engaged in pursing issues and addressing their own needs. The implications for community psychology research and practice are discussed.

Youth Voice, Civic Engagement and Failure in Participatory Action Research

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Burke ◽  
Stuart Greene ◽  
Maria K. McKenna
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Youth Voice ◽  
Participatory Action

Participatory budgeting for culture: handing power to communities?

2019 ◽  
pp. 133-146
Author(s):  
Phil Jones
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Participatory Budgeting ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Global North ◽  
The City

The concept of participatory budgeting was developed as a means of bypassing corrupt local elites and creating better governance in developing countries. Applied in the global north, it attempts to give power back to communities to set spending priorities within their neighbourhoods. This chapter examines two attempts at participatory budgeting for the arts in Birmingham – the city council’s Arts Champions scheme and a participatory action research project led by the author. Two key problems highlighted by the case studies are identified. First, funders being reluctant to hand full control to neighbourhoods over how spending is undertaken, with a tendency to push communities toward the funders’ spending priorities. Second, and related to this, is a lack of capacity at neighbourhood level to move beyond the “ideas generation” stage, toward having the confidence to design and commission cultural projects to realise those ideas. This speaks to wider problems in deprived communities – notably education, skills and confidence – that cannot be tackled simply by adding cultural activity.

“We the People”: Epistemological Moves Through Cultural Praxis

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 214-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Alberto Quijada Cerecer ◽  
Caitlin Cahill ◽  
Yvette Sonia González Coronado ◽  
Jarred Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Young People ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The People ◽  
Shared Context

How do young people embody activism and artistic praxis as they commit to community-based participatory action research for social change? We consider how the arts might provide a social and shared context for challenging racialized characterizations. Our analysis draws upon arts-based participatory action research projects conducted by the Mestizo Arts & Activism Collective ( https://maacollective.org ), a social justice think tank led by the urgent concerns of young people of color. Specifically, we engage the arts as integral to the research process—an epistemological move that opens up new ways of understanding and knowing our world and representing ourselves.

scholarly journals Creating a Relational Participatory Space: Insights from a Youth Participatory Action Research Project

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Davis-Rae
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Young People ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Youth Participation ◽  
Youth Participatory Action Research ◽  
Youth Voice ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Participatory Processes

<p><b>Since the ratification of Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, there has been a heightened focus on youth participation as a way of upholding young people’s right to have their say on decisions that affect them. However, programmes that attempt to engage young people in decision-making processes have often been poorly enacted and have failed to adequately address the barriers that limit young people’s ability to participate meaningfully and therefore rarely result in sustained change. This study examined processes with a youth participatory action research [YPAR] project in order to identify and explore processes and practices that might serve to sustain young people’s involvement and support authentic and meaningful participation. The research used an instrumental case study approach to examine an 18-month-long YPAR project operated through an existing youthwork programme. Data were collected through autoethnography, artefact analysis and participant interviews and reflections with youth participants. </b></p> <p>The study found that peer-to-peer and peer-to-leader relationships were foundational to youth participants’ ongoing involvement over the 18-month period. Such relationships appeared to drive much of the momentum of the action research and enable at times dynamic flows of power between youth participants and adults that encouraged an inter-generational space within the YPAR project. Young people stepped into leadership roles at different phases of the project while adult leaders managed the pace and progress of the project. The study identified five factors that helped to create this relational participatory space: reduced leader direction; valuing youth voice; openness of other participants, reworking adult-centric processes and the implementation of a variety of sharing activities. A number of factors that constrained youth voice were also identified. The study highlights how strong relationships were an integral part of the processes and practices of YPAR, rather than merely a positive outcome of participatory processes. These findings challenge traditional individualistic models of youth participation that frequently fail to acknowledge the importance of intergenerational and collective relationships within youth participatory action research projects. The study therefore calls for a heightened focus on relationship building within participatory processes both at a policy and practical level.</p>

scholarly journals Participatory Action Research to Determine Essential Elements of a Wheelchair Assessment

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Plummer ◽  
Max Ito ◽  
Ferol Ludwig
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
End Users ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Delphi Consensus ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Procurement Process ◽  
Wide Range

Nearly 3 million people in the Unites States utilize a wheelchair for mobility. Yet, there is no standardized assessment or procurement process for wheelchair provision. Thus, practitioners have limited guidance in the essential elements of a wheelchair assessment. End users may have no or limited experience in determining the best choice of wheelchairs to meet their needs and often rely on the knowledge of the practitioner in the decision-making process of wheelchair selection. The author explored the current state of practice and the essential elements in the wheelchair assessment and procurement process. Obtaining the correct wheelchair is a complex process, involving the client, family, practitioners, suppliers, manufacturers, policy makers and insurers. This study utilized a qualitative research approach using Participatory Action Research (PAR) and a Delphi consensus approach to garner input from 155 individuals who have experience in or with wheelchair assessments. Participants in this study included representation from wheelchair manufacturers, suppliers, educators, occupational and physical therapists, end users, policy makers, and government affairs personnel. The findings of this study suggest that the wheelchair assessment include a wide range of elements, be client specific, and reflect a client-centered process.

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