Including excluded perspectives in participatory action research

Abstract

In this paper I argue that participatory action research offers the potential for challenging the normative production of knowledge by including excluded perspectives and engaging those most affected by the research in the process. I report on a participatory action research project ‘Makes Me Mad: Stereotypes of Young Urban Womyn of Color’ that I developed with six young women from New York. In my discussion I address key principles of participatory action research (PAR) including the significance of building collective capacity and creating a community of researchers, the value of PAR as a research methodology, issues of audience, and the presentation of research findings (beyond the journal article) so they are ‘received’.