Re-storying participatory action research: a narrative approach to challenging epistemic violence in community development

Abstract

In this chapter, we dive into the thinking-feeling world by applying two case studies to the exploration of Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a decolonial and epistemologically plural philosophy of life. Via a narrative, arts-based approach to PAR, we seek greater engagement with different ways of knowing as well as with the spaces where PAR is carried out, and we question if such an approach can achieve what Bradbury and Reason declare as the "primary purpose of action research...to liberate the human body, mind and spirit in search for a better, freer world" (2008:5). We also examine how a narrative approach, grounded in community stories that challenge dominant epistemic paradigms and development ideologies, can inspire a more vital relationship between PAR and Community Development (CD). In comparing our experiences between two PAR projects in Ecuador, one focused on gender conflicts in the Hip Hop community of Quito and one focused on Indigenous storytelling and epistemologies in two Amazon region communities, we find that when we engage a "third space" with the purpose of interweaving our stories to confront epistemic violence, we are re-storying PAR. By focusing on creating and sharing stories, we not only rewrite knowledge, but we can rewrite what knowledge means, who owns it and how we relate to it. Re-storying then becomes a tool for CD because it makes us believe in truths that supersede the dominant perceptions of development. We conclude with recommendations on how we can name and engage the elusive, dreamlike, pluriversal, story-making space.