Participation and empowerment as emancipatory praxis: an ethnographic study of an NGO in Chiapas, Mexico

ABSTRACT

Despite a robust legacy of scholarship that has critiqued participation in development, the relationship between participation and empowerment remains unclear. Adelanto is a small non governmental organisation in Chiapas, Mexico, engaged in radical participatory community development. Using an ethnographic approach, we examined Adelanto’s politicised participatory approach, analysing assumptions that attempt to link radical participation with empowerment. Our findings illustrate Adelanto’s commitment to a participatory approach defined by solidarity as critical to their success in advancing participant self-mobilisation. These results represent new insight into linkages between participation, empowerment, and emancipation by demonstrating the centrality of downward accountability within localised development praxis.

KEYWORDS:

• Participation
• NGOs
• agriculture
• poverty reduction
• accountability
• region: Latin America the Caribbean
• education

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr Thomas Archibald and Dr Max Stephenson for their thoughtful contributions to the conceptualisation of our study and editorial support on earlier versions of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 All identifying information has been replaced with pseudonyms.

2 Though some of Adelanto’s participants were formerly associated with the Zapatista movement, the communities (and most participants) do not identify as Zapatista.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Garland Mason

Garland Mason coordinates the AgrAbility Virginia program designed to support farmers experiencing disability, injury, or illness. She also serves as an associate with the Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation at Virginia Tech.

Kim L. Niewolny

Kim L. Niewolny is an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education at Virginia Tech and serves as founding director of the Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation. Her scholarship centers on the role of power and equity in community education and development with an emphasis on participatory and cultural community development, critical pedagogy, and the political praxis of community food work.