Governing through community allegiance: a qualitative examination of peer research in community-based participatory research

Abstract

The disappointing results of many public health interventions have been attributed in part to the lack of meaningful community engagement in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of these initiatives. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has emerged as an alternative research paradigm that directly involves community members in all aspects of the research process. Their involvement is often said to be an empowering experience that builds capacity. In this paper, we interrogate these assumptions, drawing on interview data from a qualitative study investigating the experiences of 18 peer researchers (PRs) recruited from nine CBPR studies in Toronto, Canada. These individuals brought to their respective projects experience of homelessness, living with HIV, being an immigrant or refugee, identifying as transgender, and of having a mental illness. The reflections of PRs are compared to those of other research team members collected in separate focus groups. Findings from these interviews are discussed with an attention to Foucault’s concept of ‘governmentality’, and compared against popular community-based research principles developed by Israel and colleagues. While PRs spoke about participating in CBPR initiatives to share their experience and improve conditions for their communities, these emancipatory goals were often subsumed within corporatist research environments that limited participation. Overall, this study offers a much-needed theoretical engagement with this popular research approach and raises critical questions about the limits of community engagement in collaborative public health research.

Keywords:

• community
• health promotion
• governance
• Foucault
• community-based participatory research

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the participants who shared their time, experiences, and rich insights with us. We would also like to thank Ananya Mukherjea for her encouragement and support during a presentation of this paper at the Foucault Society’s Colloquium Series at CUNY, and Marilou Gagnon, David Flicker, and Ryan Nunn for their useful feedback on earlier drafts of this paper. Funding for this project was provided by the Wellesley Institute.

Notes

1. Based on unpublished Scopus review by Doug Brugge, Tufts U., 2011.

2. Bernadette was known by one of the authors and was personally asked if she would like to be interviewed about her experience.