Decolonizing Sociology Through Collaboration, Co‐Learning and Action: A Case for Participatory Action Research

Despite important efforts by postcolonial scholars to “decolonize” sociology, this endeavor remains limited by the scaffolding of empirical research, or the institutionalized practices and beliefs embedded within data collection and researchers' relationship to research subjects. In its current...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociological forum (Randolph, N.J.) Vol. 38; no. 1; pp. 95 - 120
Main Author: Fahlberg, Anjuli
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Wayne Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.03.2023
Subjects:
Action research
Case studies
Collaboration
Colonialism
Cooperative learning
Data collection
Decolonization
Inequality
Infrastructure
Learning
Marginality
Participatory action research
Participatory research
Postcolonialism
Research methodology
Research subjects
Researcher subject relations
Scaffolding
Social action
Sociological theory
Sociology
Subaltern identities
ISSN:0884-8971, 1573-7861
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Despite important efforts by postcolonial scholars to “decolonize” sociology, this endeavor remains limited by the scaffolding of empirical research, or the institutionalized practices and beliefs embedded within data collection and researchers' relationship to research subjects. In its current form, this scaffolding excludes “subaltern” voices from critiquing and extending sociological theory, deriving benefits from the study, or informing social actions that stem from the research. This limits the field's understanding of the multi‐faceted impacts of colonialism and retrenches inequalities between scholars and participants. Participatory Action Research (PAR) offers an alternative, decolonial infrastructure. PAR acknowledges the value of knowledge from the periphery and calls for (1) the participation of marginalized research populations in each step of the research process; (2) co‐learning between researchers and participants; and (3) collaborative social action that centers the needs of marginalized research populations. Drawing on a case study of PAR in Rio de Janeiro, I demonstrate how PAR allows sociologists, in partnership with historically colonized groups, to decolonize sociology not only in theory, but in the concrete practices of empirical research.
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ISSN:0884-8971
1573-7861
DOI:10.1111/socf.12867