Participatory Research
Action and Knowledge
Action and Knowledge draws on twenty years of
experience with the techniques and philosophy of Participatory
Action-Research (PAR). PAR is an innovative approach to economic and
social change, which goes beyond usual institutional boundaries in
development by actively involving the people in generating knowledge
about their own condition and how it can be changed. PAR requires a
strong commitment by participating social scientists to
deprofessionalize their expertise and share it with the people, while
recognizing that the communities directly involved have the critical
voice in determining the direction and goals of change as subjects
rather than objects. More >
Economics, Culture and Society
The essayists in this volume are united in their
deep dissatisfaction with neoclassical economics and the dominance of
the market as they explore alternative approaches to economics in its
social and cultural context. Their essays cover a broad range of ideas
and schools of thought from the European cultural-historical approach,
reflected in the work of Karl Planyi and Fernand Braudel, to the “human
economy” school in the United States and the “green” view of economic
development, with roots in Northern Europe. The concluding essay reaches
beyond economics to project a “new heresy” in the respiritualization of
society. More >
Nurtured by Knowledge
This book examines the frustrations and limitations
of conventional Western academic research on social change and describes
the struggle to fashion a new approach based on the principle that
people have a universal right to participate in the production of
knowledge that directly affects their lives. The heart of the book is a
series of case studies of participatory action-research (PAR) attempted
in such diverse places as Canada, India, Africa, and Latin America. More >
