Panel: Participatory Action Research – Challenges to Democratizing Knowledge Production in Forced Migration Research

Abstract

The responses to global refugee movements include the choices we make as forced migration scholars in researching with displaced people. Forced migration research faces the question how it can avoid being part of exploitative mechanisms and make its own research practices more equitable. This challenge is experienced by many scholars and is also highlighted by critical postcolonial and feminist approaches to knowledge production. Participatory Action Research (PAR) seems to provide a promising avenue. But while we acknowledge PAR’s transformative potential, in this panel we want to discuss and confront the complexities and inherent challenges of PAR approaches to forced migration research. In practice, structural inequities usually persist which impede the realization of PAR's emancipatory promises. Can PAR genuinely disrupt power dynamics, inform policy, and challenge entrenched research hierarchies, even when researchers and participants often start out from vastly different power positions?

We invite scholars and practitioners from all disciplines to share their experiences with the approach. Contributions will address, first, the practical challenges that researchers have had regarding power-sharing, ethical representation, and potential biases. How does PAR operate on the ground, which are the most salient problems while researching with forced migrants? Second, did researchers and practitioners find ways to address these problems: Can we create truly equal footing in collaborative knowledge production processes? Which best practices and innovative solutions can we learn from? Which open questions remain? We welcome case studies from various countries, regions, and communities

in-person event