What we say and what we do: reflexivity, emotions and power in children and young people's participation

Abstract

Children and young people's participation is now recognised as a relational process and consequently the role of adults has been identified as crucial. Yet the role that adults play in the participatory process is underexplored and how underlying factors of emotions and power influence this role is unclear. Using the work of Spinoza as a framework for discussion, this article explores the impact of emotions and power on participatory processes. Based on doctoral participatory action research undertaken in São Paulo, Brazil, I argue that adults facilitating participation need to reflect on how they are personally implicated in the participatory process if underlying factors of emotions and power are to be acknowledged and addressed.

Keywords:

• participation
• power
• emotions
• affect
• reflexivity

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend my gratitude to my PhD supervisors, Helen Charnley and Rachel Pain from Durham University, for their ongoing support for this research. I thank the two anonymous reviewers whose thoughtful and informative comments helped further develop my thinking. My sincere thanks to the Economic and Social Research Council for funding this research.

Notes

Paulo is a native English speaker and therefore this interview was conducted in English.