THE COMPLEX ART OF FACILITATING ACTION RESEARCH by Miren Larrea.
I am thrilled to see Miren Larrea’s new book out in all its colorful glory. I am struck by the loveliness of the drawings in the book. We see some of them in the video introduction – link below.
I’m struck also by the authenticity of Miren’s author voice. I am grateful for the sophisticated understanding of facilitation she brings. Facilitation, after all, is so central to action research yet it receives too little attention. There are many actionable pointers along the way.
We are habituated to masculine norms of unilateral control
Miren’s book is anchored in her many years working to support transformation of the political culture in the Basque region of Northern Spain. Like cultures of politics and organizational life worldwide, it is a bastion of masculine coded assumptions and practices. Key to Miren’s analysis is that there’s been a socialization to think in terms of either-or, win/lose. Most of us, women and men, are indeed trained to think in these dichotomies. No wonder polarization plagues our democracies. Some might argue that it’s natural for us to think like this. We love salt, sugar and fat as much as we love either/or mind! Unfortunately, either/or mind is also killing us.
The world is grown more complex both in its problems and with the diversity of populations who are stepping into to agency in response. A big question is whether and how we can train ourselves better for juggling multiple perspectives. At the same time we can’t just get lost in simply understanding multiple perspectives. The point – the fruition of our facilitated efforts is to discern next steps together. The power of Miren’s book is that it points out how we may adopt a more partnering ethos.
Miren explains, however, that after her fifteen years facilitating action research the normative principle of finding balance (e.g., mutuality) is not at all straightforward! While we can suggest that all perspectives are equally valuable, in truth a unilateral solution with an executive directive is not equal to a mutual solution discerned for action together. How then to work the long game with short time horizons. Our action research requires better facilitation of change processes, both among the ones who facilitate, and the ones facilitated.
We might say that facilitation is a feminine arena of practice. In this it’s in service to a particular agenda. And literally action research often attracts more women than men. Not that feminine means women and masculine means men. But our socialization is different. The balance we hold is therefore different. My own back of the envelope calculation is that I see 2:1 women and men in the field of action research.
Miren’s book helps us see – and the pictures help us feel – what it may mean in practice to cultivate a more balanced feminine and masculine facilitation. We might call this a partnership facilitation from which participative culture can develop. Oh, and did I mention how fabulous the diagrams are?!
Here’s Miren 3 mins video to introduce her book in her own words: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bSqjJQVgeeW0T5uXwvL0bPyx9zWECDte/view
Your own free copy of the book is at this link:
Look out for an invitation to our upcoming action researching for all workshop. In this we’re responding to the interest in how action research can help activists in today’s climate. Yep, one of our texts will be Miren’s!
Latest posts by Hilary Brad (see all)
- Action Research for all! YouTube Talk Pulse Practice with Hilary Bradbury - March 11, 2025
- THE COMPLEX ART OF FACILITATING ACTION RESEARCH by Miren Larrea. - February 21, 2025
- Call for papers on research culture - February 10, 2025
