Participatory action research as movement toward radical relationality, epistemic justice, and transformative intervention: A multivocal reflection.

Abstract

Critical approaches to research and inquiry are grounded in an ethical responsibility to disrupt the status quo; namely, to understand and address injustice in particular contexts. Critical inquiry involves a number of threshold commitments and intentional actions: to expand the possibility of who can participate in socially sanctioned research; to empirically investigate intersubjective, lived realities that are shaped by complex relation ships to history, place, and power, to commit to transformative social and systemic change, bridging the gap between "what is" to "what could or must be." Participatory action research (PAR) is one such approach where the research questions are codetermined by collaborators who might not be trained in conventional research methods. Yet, through their shared experiential knowledge, innovative strategies to wield and leverage power, and persistence toward self and collective determi nation, thriving, and wellbeing, they anchor their efforts in desire, imagination, and actions for transformative justice and systemic change. In this chapter, we affirm PAR as a generative paradigm and we engage our embodiment, subjectivity, and shared dialogical reflections, which we offer through featured stories and writings.

Freedom dreaming from the university‐community nexus: Relational praxis as counterspace

“…Each of these projects also represents a transformation of our space/setting/process/relationship. Reimagining and deepening the university‐community relationship by attending to dynamics of power and privilege, we ask: how are we creating counterspace as a node connecting multiple relations and networks; and how do we mobilise freedom dreaming through cultural practice and critical solidarity praxis with the academy (Dutta et al., 2023; Fine, 2018).…”

Reimagining the Politics of Belonging Through Counterstorytelling: A Decolonial Praxis of Refusal and Desire

“…In such retelling and rewriting of place as affective, lived, and negotiated in struggle, oral histories and Miya poetry reveal possibilities for radically inclusive, nonexploitative, and nonessentialized forms of belonging (see also https://www.asymptotejournal.com/special-feature/siraj-khan-my-son-has-learnt-to-cuss-like-the-city/). Together, Miya people step into their power as storytellers—drawing upon everyday experiences to craft stories that name oppressive practices, acknowledge the scope and depth of suffering, and uplift joy, creativity, and desire (Dutta et al, in press; Image 4). In the process, stories become critical sources of theory and praxis about belonging.…”