Knowledge Democracy
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://knowledgedemocracydspace.com/handle/123456789/1076
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Item Participatory research as a methodology of development(Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 0000) Tandon, RajeshItem Creating Knowledge: A Monopoly? Participatory Research in Development(Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 1982-06) Hall, Budd L; Gillete, Arthur; Tandon, RajeshItem The democratization of the production of knowledge(1988-05-03) Hall, Budd LDr. Budd L. Hall delivered the opening address at a participatory research workshop held at the University of Calgary in May 1988. In this address, he reflects on his journey in participatory research, beginning with his work in Tanzania in the early 1970s, where he met Paulo Freire, to his role in founding the International Participatory Research Network in 1977. By the time of the address, he headed the International Council for Adult Education. . Participatory research is framed through three connected dimensions: a theoretical grounding aimed at building popular hegemony rather than serving ruling classes, an epistemological understanding of knowledge formed through the interaction of research, education and action, and a political practice built on working directly with communities. Feminist, Indigenous, and worker perspectives run through the address, including a Montreal poultry workers' union that studied its own workplace health conditions instead of relying on outside experts, illustrating that there are many ways of knowing beyond formal Western science. John Gaventa's observation appears too that social movements often falter either by rejecting research altogether or by depending too heavily on outside experts. A six-step method developed by Joao Francisco de Souza runs from context and justification through to the collectivization of the knowledge produced. Participatory research is presented, in the end, as a difficult but necessary strategy within the larger struggle over who controls knowledge and powerItem A river of life: Learning and environmental social movements(Interface: A journal for and about social movement, 2009) Hall, Budd LWhat and how can we learn from social movements? According to Dr. Budd Hall, social movements are intense locations for knowledge to come together and for learning to happen. They are seen as one of the best routes to social transformation because they bring together action, learning and social change. In this 2009 paper, Dr. Hall reflects on the epistemic value of social movements in the creation of knowledge. He begins by exploring what a social movement is and outlines its characteristic features as discussed by different schools of thought. The paper is a collaborative effort involving teams from three organisations and presents qualitative analyses based on case studies of environmental social movements from countries like Venezuela, Brazil, Sudan, India, Canada and many more. From these cases, the paper formulates key principles of environmental social movement learning, including seeing humans as part of nature rather than separate from it, deconstructing power relations in our relationship with nature and with each other as a first step toward transforming them, and several other interconnected insights. Through both theoretical reflection and grounded case studies, Hall argues that social movements, while leading to social transformation, also facilitate deep personal transformation by creating powerful spaces for learning.Item Participatory research: Revisiting the roots(2002) Tandon, Rajesh; Hall, Budd L; Brown, L. David; Jaitli, Harsh; Kanhere, Vijay; Small, Dele; Gaventa, John; Merrifield, Juliet; Madiath, Anthya; Belamide, Eileen; Bryceson, Deborah; Manicom, Linzi; Kassam, Yusuf; Vio Grossi, Francisco; Hirabai Hiralal, Mohan; Tare, Savita; Batliwala, Srilatha; Patel, Sheela; Khot, SeemantineeIt has been nearly a quarter of a century since the early formulations of participatory research began to be presented hesitatingly and tentatively. Those early proposals were essentially a reaction to the classical methodology of research and inquiry which had alienated the social science research enterprise from the very people about whom research was being carried out. In a simple way, stated then, participatory research challenged the 'monopoly of knowledge' which has been vested in the elites of our society. The production of knowledge, its certification and dissemination have been controlled by intellectual elites in all human societies, since a long period of time. The Brahmanical order justified its hierarchy by making the distinction between intellectual work and physical work. Brahmins were the repositories of knowledge and wisdom, could use the language of God's 'Sanskrit', and interpret the religious scriptures to prescribe the social norms and behaviour for the rest of society. Similar Brahmanical orders have existed in other cultures and other histories. Therefore, the first significant contribution of participatory research has been to challenge the mythical and artificial divide between mental labour and manual labour, intellectual pursuits and physical pursuits. It has questioned the belief that capacity for intellectual work resides in only a few. It argued that popular knowledge, ability to produce and use knowledge, is a universal human phenomenon, and such capacity exists in all human beings, so argued participatory research then.Item Participatory evaluation: Issues and concerns(Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 2001-08-20) Choudhary, Anil; Tandan, RajeshAnil Choudhary and Dr. Rajesh Tandon present a compilation of PRIA's practice and reflection on participatory evaluation, drawn from years of work with grassroots organizations across India. The book distinguishes participatory evaluation from conventional, externally driven evaluation models, defining it as a developmental and educational process controlled by the people whose programs, organizations, or perspectives are being assessed. The authors lay out the steps involved in planning and conducting such an exercise, from setting objectives through to data collection, analysis, and the evolving of action plans. Eight case studies illustrate this methodology, covering a women's savings program in Tamil Nadu, a partner-group organizing effort in West Bengal, a preschool program in Andhra Pradesh, and other initiatives with a primary focus on organization or perspective. A closing section takes up recurring questions in the field, including the difference between methodology and method, who should participate, the role of donors and outside facilitators, and the importance of separating evaluation from funding decisions. Throughout, the authors hold that participatory evaluation rests on faith in people's capacity to reflect on and improve their own work and that its purpose is to strengthen, not regulate, the organizations and movements it examines.Item Social transformation and participatory research(Convergence, 1988) Tandon, RajeshItem Participatory research and participatory social action(1980-04-13) Tandon, RajeshItem Participatory Evaluation and Research: Main Concepts and Issues(Indian Social Institute, 1981) Tandon, RajeshFrom the days in the 1930s when the University of Bombay first introduced a post-graduate course in sociology, to our days, there has been a gradual change to the professionalization of the social sciences. With professionalization came specialisation and its acceptance as a science that can be considered objective by creating a distance between the researcher and the 'object' of study i.e., the people studied—actors in the social setting.