PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH, INTERCULTURALITY, AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS | ABYA YALA
In a context of blurred and ambiguous methodological approaches, where the rhetoric of “cooperation” prevails, turning research practices into forms of epistemic extractivism—especially in indigenous and intercultural communities—we propose to address critical, ethical-political, and epistemological questions about approaches to research in opposition to the scientistic and Eurocentric paradigms of knowledge production, in line with decolonial perspectives in research (Tuhiwai Smith, 2016), but also anticolonial ones. In particular, we incorporate the Declaration of Barbados (1971) as a historical document in which anthropologists denounce the ethnocide and genocide of indigenous peoples on our continent, while also demanding the decolonization of anthropology and the recognition of indigenous self-determination and territory.
We will address Participatory Action Research (PAR), with its legacy and tradition, developed since 1960 (Fals Borda, 1981; Freire, 1969, 1970, 1992, 1996, 1997; Brandão, 2016). According to its founders, this methodological approach does not constitute a model of methodology to be replicated across territories; rather, it represents a relevant proposal for the democratic and conscious construction of knowledge based on the dialogue of knowledges and joint community work—that is, research with, from, and for communities.
In territories belonging to indigenous peoples and in processes of interculturality, PAR emerges as a particularly appropriate path for promoting, within academia and other territorial spaces, community-based and cooperative forms of research with transformative potential, reaffirming the historical tradition and territorial rootedness consistent with the ethical-political principles that have guided PAR since its inception. PAR, interculturality, and indigenous peoples demand levels of participatory proposals in which the various social actors—professionals, academics, educators, and scientists—assume leading roles: how should these be approached? What are the challenges for the active participation of the various actors in society?
This symposium is aimed at academics, undergraduate and graduate students, thesis writers, professionals, teachers, researchers, social organizations, diverse collectives, groups, artists, communities, and sociocultural actors seeking to generate a space for exchange and reflection to contribute, through PAR, alongside the indigenous cultures of Latin America and Abya Yala.
We welcome papers recounting advanced or completed PAR research experiences, presenting results that contribute to deep reflection and exchange through dialogues of knowledges. An open, playful, and democratic dynamic of participation is proposed. The aim is to strengthen fraternal ties among researchers who take up the challenge of sharing their work and putting it into circulation.
