Enactivist theory and community learning: toward a complexified understanding of action research

Abstract

This article seeks to interrogate conceptions of cognition and knowledge, explicit and implicit, that underpin conventional projects of educational research. Developed around our own efforts to make sense of the contingent and complex nature of a recent action research project, the discussion develops an enactivist account of cognition that is offered as an alternative both to subject-centred orientations (e.g. representationism and constructivism) and culture-privileging accounts (e.g. critical and sociocultural theories). The relevance of enactivism for educational action research – conceived as a site for learning, and hence tranformative of both individual and collective – is examined in terms of the practical and moral dimensions of the activity.