Temporality in Co-generative Processes: Reframing Time in Territorial Complexity

Abstract

Action research provides fertile grounds for co-generation of knowledge in complex contexts and to be present in the becoming of the process. Time and temporality warrant explanation and distinction, and in retrospective a process can be described with temporal phases, such as planning, observation, action, reflection, evaluation, and modification. Such a description may appear rational, sequential, and linear. However, an action research process is not that! This paper explores the various positionalities of the action researcher, as an insider in a process of becoming, showing how time and temporality can be made explicit in the evolution of an action research process. Our contributions to the action research literature concerning co-generation of knowledge when addressing territorial complexity are: (1) an explicit awareness of temporality provides the opportunity for research on evolvement of processes from the inside, (2) presence in the becoming of a process means there is a unique possibility for reflection and iteration, (3) research in the present tense allows for insight into unexpected developments that create the foundation for future action, as an alternative to retrospective process evaluation, and (4) modelling the process creates a narrative which tells the story of evolution of the process over time.