Learning from the experiences of others: An interview with Dr. Marja-Liisa Swantz
What is and what is not PAR? How can emerging scholars effectively use PAR methods to bring about community change and social justice? What is the future of PAR? These are the questions we had in mind when we decided to obtain answers by interviewing Dr. Marja-Liisa Swantz, a distinguished participatory action research expert whose […]
Read More...Participatory Action with Refugees with Disabilities
Standard approaches to qualitative research often exclude persons with different types of disabilities. In 2013 and 2014, the Women’s Refugee Commission applied a participatory model to examine the intersections of sexual and reproductive health and disability in three refugee settings. Respecting the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and a rights-based framework to […]
Read More...Confronting espoused theories with theories-in-use: Challenges of participatory action research with marginalized communities in contributing to social change and theory building
How to counteract hundreds of years of ethnic stigmatization and exclusion that lead to marginalization and segregation for many? How can participatory action research (PAR) contribute to working against social exclusion? In this paper, we reflect on a PAR process conducted in partnership with segregated Roma communities in Hungary where local middle-class researcher-activists and stigmatized, […]
Read More...GIRRL power! Participatory Action Research for building girl-led community resilience in South Africa
This article aims to crystallize the contributions of the Girls in Risk Reduction Leadership (GIRRL) Program in building resilient communities through the integration of adolescent girls into local level decision-making and action for reducing disaster risk. Disadvantaged adolescent girls carry a double burden derived from vulnerability associated with gender and age within the context of […]
Read More...Women Battling Diabetes, One Group at a Time
Inspired by the article “Inside the PAR group: The group dynamics of women learning to live with diabetes”, Fatemeh Adii, Isabel Higgins, and Tina Koch, Action Research 10(4) 373–386 I work for a wellness company that is contracted by a grocery store chain to help employees improve their everyday lifestyles through nutrition and exercise. Along […]
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