Abstract
This researcher reflection examines the challenges faced in using participatory action research (PAR) as a methodology when researching social work in Fiji. PAR allows for disadvantaged groups to engage in research and social action as a means to address inequity. However, PAR relies on people’s ability and desire to participate in this process of change. The epistemological roots of PAR are well suited to Western notions of democracy and power, conflicting with how society operates within Fiji. This reflection examines some of the challenges faced in conducting PAR due to this cultural clash. In conducting this research, the researcher was forced to engage in deep and, at times, confronting, reflections about identity and positionality as both a critical social worker and researcher. By using a PAR approach as the starting point for research design and implementation, the research not only failed to empower Fijian social workers but at times replicated a form of neo-colonialism.
Highlights
This researcher reflection examines the challenges faced in using participatory action research (PAR) as a methodology when researching social work in Fiji
Social and political sciences have maintained the idea of expert social researchers which can be seen through the extensive use of outside consultants and researchers in international aid and development projects in the Pacific Islands
This privileging of Western epistemological thought contributes to a cross-cultural research context where the Western researcher examines the experience of non-Western participants (Farrelly & Nabobo-Baba, 2014; Tamasese, Peturu, Waldegrave, & Bush, 2005). This approach fails to appreciate the nuances of the local context or to produce research that is not meaningful, appropriate and culturally viable for non-Western community contexts (Vaka, Brannelly, & Huntington, 2016). This viewpoint highlights the ideological tensions within cross-cultural social work research, when the impetus to draw on Western epistemology remains
Summary
This researcher reflection examines the challenges faced in using participatory action research (PAR) as a methodology when researching social work in Fiji. This viewpoint highlights the ideological tensions within cross-cultural social work research, when the impetus to draw on Western epistemology remains. It is written from my perspective as a kai valangi (white person) engaged in doctoral research focusing on Fijian experiences of social work.
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