scholarly journals A Model of Action Research for Advancing Community-University Partnerships

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara Bengle ◽  
Janni Sorensen ◽  
Jose Gamez ◽  
Elizabeth Morrell
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
University Partnerships

scholarly journals Community–University Partnerships: Using Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR)

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Kearney ◽  
Lesley Wood ◽  
Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Action Learning ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Common Interest ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
University Partnerships ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Disadvantaged Communities

This article positions participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) as a preferred methodology for community-university partnerships to achieve a holistic outcome that benefits the common interest. Evidence for this claim is illustrated through case studies of two community engagement programs, one in South Africa and the other in Australia. The South African study explains how relationships, reflection and recognition (the three R’s of PALAR) are important elements that promote a truly participatory approach to knowledge creation and practical improvement in social circumstances. The Australian study then highlights what can be achieved. It does this by showing the potential for PALAR participants to learn how to design and implement a community engagement program, and how to cascade their own learning into their community to improve educational opportunities. Both studies demonstrate PALAR’s potential to disrupt traditional understandings of the research process, particularly in terms of researcher–participant relationships. At the same time, both studies identify the challenges arising from the theoretical and practical implications of PALAR as an approach to community development. This article is therefore significant for universities and funding organisations engaging in community-based research and development through partnerships, specifically in contexts of disadvantage. Keywords: Participatory action learning and action research, PALAR, community development, community engagement, community partnerships, disadvantaged communities, higher education.

scholarly journals Shared voices, different worlds: Process and product in the Food Dignity action research project

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine M. Porter ◽  
Hank Herrera ◽  
Daryl Marshall ◽  
Gayle M. Woodsum
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Community Based Participatory Research ◽  
Food Justice ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Research Project ◽  
University Partnerships ◽  
Personal Strengths ◽  
True Diversity

Diversity of perspective makes for greater depth when painting a portrait of community life. But embracing the idea of representing true diversity in a formal research project is a whole lot easier than putting it into practice. The three dozen members of the Food Dignity action research team, now entering the fourth year of a five-year project, are intimately familiar with this challenge. In this article, four of the collaborators explore the intricacies of navigating what it means to bring together a genuine cross-section of community-based activists and academics in an effort to draw on one another’s professional and personal strengths to collect and disseminate research findings that represent the truth of a community’s experiences, and are ultimately disseminated in a way that brings tangible benefit to the heart and soul of that community. The authors include Food Dignity’s principal investigator (Porter) and three community organisers (Marshall, Herrera and Woodsum) in organisations that have partnered with Food Dignity. Two of the organisers (Herrera and Woodsum) also serve project-wide roles. These collaborators share their personal and professional hopes, struggles, concerns, successes and failures as participants in this cutting-edge effort to equalise community and university partnerships in research. Keywords: community-based participatory research (CBPR), food justice, equitable community-campus partnerships, food sovereignty, case study, action research

scholarly journals Challenging the empowerment expectation: Learning, alienation and design possibilities in community-university research

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Curnow
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Community Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Learning ◽  
University Partnerships ◽  
Partnership Models ◽  
The University ◽  
Peer Researchers

As community-university partnerships have become mainstream, researchers have argued that these approaches have the potential to be transformative, supporting community learning and creating capacity for community development. While this remains the dominant narrative of community research, some researchers have questioned the impacts of community research on frontline community, or peer, researchers who represent partnerships in their communities. These studies complicate the narrative, suggesting that learning and capacity building are not straightforward processes. While on the whole community-university partnerships tend to be empowering for community researchers, research is needed to understand the experiences of community researchers for whom this is not the case. My research examines a Toronto-based community-university participatory action research partnership, asking what community researchers learnt through their participation. I argue that, while community researchers learnt a great deal from their participation, the overall impact was not empowerment, but alienation. They did have their knowledge of community validated, and they built research skills, developed grievances through their conversations with neighbours and interrogated the links between grievances, all of which were important aspects of their participation. However, through the process they developed, or entrenched, a sense of powerlessness and dependence on the university researchers to take up their cause politically. This contradicts the aspirations of community-university partnership models, especially participatory action research, and raises questions about the inevitability of empowering social action stemming from these research projects. I argue that the disempowerment that the community researchers reported points to the need for community research to be embedded within existing social action organisations and infrastructure to provide clearer pathways to action because, without this, peer researchers may become overwhelmed by the scope of the grievances in their neighbourhoods and withdraw from, rather than embrace, the need for collective social action.

The Politics of Community-University Partnerships: Beyond Care, Toward Justice

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Maruyama ◽  
Michelle Fine ◽  
Maria Elana Torre
Keyword(s):  
University Partnerships
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