Action and Knowledge: Breaking the monopoly with Participatory Action Research

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Participatory Action-Research, or PAR, is an innovative and radical approach to economic and social change that recognizes how important it is for people who are involved to have the critical voice in determining the direction and goals of change. This demands a commitment from social scientists and policy makers to deprofessionalize and share their expertise, and to listen to the feelings and needs of the common people, particularly those forgotten and left voiceless by the dominant institutions of society. Action and Knowledge draws on twenty years of experience with the techniques and philosophy of PAR using case studies from Asia, Africa, Latin America and North America to show how widespread this approach to development has become since it emerged as a new way to empower the oppressed two decades ago. It shows how PAR can successfully bring about change by actively involving people in generating knowledge about their own condition and how it can best be transformed. Action and Knowledge gives a constructive message to social action groups, grassroots organizers and government officials in both industrialized countries and the Third World on ways to stimulate social and economic change, and will also lead to further dialogue with scholars, teachers and students.