Browsing by Author "Fals Borda, Orlando"

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A North-South convergence on the quest for meaning
(Sage, 1996) Fals Borda, Orlando
Personal experience in Latin America led the author from academic work to fieldwork in participatory action research (PAR). This type of research implies a quest for meaning not only in life experiences but also within the intellectual endeavor. A comparison is made between Agnes Heller's version of such a quest and a previous attempt made in Colombia during the period when PAR was being constructed.
Action and knowledge: Breaking the monopoly with participatory action research
(The Apex Press, 1991) Fals Borda, Orlando; Rahman, Mohammed Anisur
This book is the result of field work and reflection inspired in Participatory Action-Research (PAR) techniques and philosophy during the last twenty years, when this form of study-and-action was first proposed and tried. The book does not attempt the impossible task of covering the entire field. It does try, however, to underline PAR's main features as we have experienced them, illustrating them in Part II through a handful of process studies, or vivencias, from different countries. Such vivencias are expected to show why PAR is a viable ap-proach to face some of the very old problems still experienced in many parts of the world where "development" policies have been tried and found wanting. However, although the crisis of "development" and its discourse is every day more widely felt and discussed, because PAR began much before, the alternative rise of PAR should not be interpreted as a response to it. From the beginning, those who adopted PAR have tried to practice with a radical commitment that has gone beyond usual institutional boundaries, reminiscent of the challenging tradition of Chartists, utopians and other social movements of the nineteenth century. Therefore, while recognizing that ours is an ancient, permanent task, it is our hope to reach social action groups, grassroots animators, intellectuals and government officials with a constructive message adapted to present needs for social and economic change, and conducive to other options for enlightenment and awakening of common peoples-especially those forgotten, despised or left voiceless by the dominant Establishments. We are concerned with such sociopolitical problems as people's power and struggles, and with cognitive issues, such as those implied in the accumulation of different types of knowledge. The pertinent theoretical discussion is found in Parts I and III, written also with a view to undertake a dialogue with academic scholars and in particular those who consider themselves "post-modern." We want to express our appreciation to the collaborators of this book and to the many groups that participated in the experiences. Thanks are due also to the director of the Institute of Political and International Studies of the National University of Colombia, Bogotá, and to the chief of the Rural Employment Policies Branch of the International Labour Office, Geneva, for their institutional support of the present work.
Orígenes universales y retos actuales de la IAP [Universal origins and current challenges of PAR]
(Análisis Político, 1999) Fals Borda, Orlando
A finales del año pasado recibí de la Universidad de Bath (Inglaterra) una invitación para contribuir, con mis memorias y apreciaciones personales, a un Manual Internacional de Investigación Acción que publicará SAGE en Londres. Decidí aceptar por tres razones: 1) Creo llegado el momento de hacer un balance histórico-intelectual de lo realizado sobre el tema en varios países, pero en especial en Colombia que fue uno de los pioneros. 2) El Manual puede ser una contribución a la búsqueda de paradigmas alternos en las ciencias contemporáneas, lo que volverá a discutirse en el próximo Congreso Mundial de la IAP en Australia en septiembre del 2000. 3) Quise que Análisis Político y su público conocieran antes estas reflexiones, por cuanto debemos al IEPRI mucho del impulso mundial del tema mediante su auspicio del Congreso de 1997. Ésta es entonces la versión española de la que se leerá posteriormente en inglés, con lo que aspiro a cerrar el ciclo de mis intervenciones publicadas sobre la materia (que Análisis Político inauguró en 1988), dejando franco paso a los que vienen.
Social movements and political power: Evolution in Latin America
(Sage, 1990-6) Fals Borda, Orlando
Social movements came to life again in Latin America towards 1964. Working mainly at the local level, they have been undergoing intense evolution by adopting political functions. This has been due to the concatenation of the problems faced by them in existing vacuums of power. Movements have sustained themselves in time and have expanded regionally, to the point of now adopting national stances. This is expressed in autonomous action exemplified in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and other nations. Prospects are difficult because of repression and co-optation, but unexpected resistance of the movements expresses an intense desire to achieve alternative developments and ways of life in these countries.
The Application of the social sciences’ Contemporary issues to work on participatory action research
(Society for Applied Anthropology, 2008) Fals Borda, Orlando
No one could have been more surprised than I when at the closing session of the 12th International Sympo-N sium on Action Research for Education, held at my home city of Bogotá, Colombia May 14-18, 2007 a number of delegates from Australia, Great Britain and the United States went to the podium to announce that I was the new recipient of the prestigious Bronislaw Malinowski Award of the Society for Applied Anthropology. I should travel to Memphis for this purpose. It is a motive of amazement to find my name in the honor roll together with scientists and authors of my considerable youthful reverence, the masters of my professors-a roster with names such as Gunnar Myrdal, Everett C. Hughes, Laura Thompson, Conrad Arensberg, and Margaret Clark. How did I finally fit into this sacred list? I am not going to question the criteria for choosing. My main duty, I feel, is to examine whether I merit such inclusion from the standpoint of con-tinuity and/or accumulation of science, continuing some of the basic tenets of the discipline I learned in my university years in the United States.