A contemporary tale of participatory action research in Aotearoa/New Zealand: applying a power–culture lens to support participatory action research as a diverse and evolving practice

Abstract

This article represents an attempt at ‘truth‐telling’ or problematizing the practice of Participatory Action Research (PAR); specifically as this relates to the ways in which particular sets of knowledge, institutional and identity–power relations privilege particular worldviews and cultural systems over others within the research process. To date, much of the literature available to researchers on PAR remains grounded in Western assumptions and cultural values. However, the internationalization of development work and increasing migration patterns of people’s from to less economically developed countries to largely Western, wealthier countries, means the practice of PAR must become increasingly context‐specific.

The intent of this paper, therefore, is to illuminate PAR as an evolving practice whose ongoing development must be informed by the entirety of contexts and participants that, in reality, make up any one PAR project. It tells the story of an 18‐month PAR project in Aotearoa/New Zealand with migrant, low‐income, Tongan and Samoan women living in state‐owned houses in the Auckland suburb of Glen Innes. This project evolved through several phases of development that culminated in these women undertaking a child health and safety survey of state‐owned houses in their neighborhood and engaging in public policy advocacy. Throughout each phase, the author and the other research participants had to successfully negotiate a number of power–culture dynamics and associated tensions located in the cultural assumptions of PAR, working cross‐culturally, and the challenges of attempting PAR within the context of a university–community partnership. It draws on several key examples to illustrate these dynamics and invites the audience to reflect on PAR as a diverse and changing practice.

Keywords:

• Culture
• Power
• Knowledge
• Diversity

Notes

1. Such global processes include largely Western capitalist expansion and the colonization of Indigenous peoples throughout the world, the migration of peoples from the economic peripheries to the ‘developed West’ and the expansion of Northern/Western development models to other parts of the world (Williams, 2001).

2. The term ‘culture’ is used in a broad sense and refers to worldviews, conventions, norms and symbols used by particular groups. It may be applied to ethnicity, gender, age, sexuality, ability, religion, rural/urban environment, and other types of groupings. Cultural identity is closely related to self‐identity.

3. Palangi is the Samoan word for a person of European descent.

4. Maori are the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

5. To guide the research, a number of supporting structures were established. These included a community advisory group made up of representatives of WAG, community workers and representatives of Goodworks. The role of this group was to assist in guiding the overall development of the research (including the initial development of the research questions regarding empowerment processes), to advise on local cultural and development issues, and to ensure accountability to the relevant groups and organizations in Glen Innes. A small planning group, comprising two WAG members and the author, was also formed for the purpose of planning WAG’s capacity‐building and evaluation activities.

6. These practices included, for example, not contradicting parents or people with higher social status, and elders and people with titles eating first at celebrations.