From voice to knowledge: participatory action research, inclusive debate and feminism

Abstract

This article discusses the relations between participatory action research and feminist research, through an examination of the metaphor of ‘voice’ and its possible replacement with the idea of ‘knowledge.’ The article describes in detail a participatory action research project undertaken in Israel, which was aimed at forging an inclusive debate through collaboration between people living in poverty, academics, policy‐makers, social practitioners, and social activists. Drawing on this example the article explores the possibilities and challenges for furthering social change through participatory action research.

Keywords:

• poverty
• participatory action research
• feminism

Acknowledgments

The conference described in this article was held in honor of the 80th birthday of Israel Prize Laureate, Professor Jona M. Rosenfeld. Jona Rosenfeld is the Gordon Brown Professor Emeritus at the School of Social Work at the Hebrew University and a senior consultant at the Myers‐JDC‐Brookdale Institute’s Unit for Learning from Success and JDC Ashalim. Jona Rosenfeld has been a leading figure in the field of social work in Israel. We owe him much of what we know about partnership in social work with people in poverty. For Rosenfeld’s publications see Rosenfeld (1989, 1993, 1997); Rosenfeld, Schon, and Sykes (1995); Rosenfeld and Sykes (1998); Rosenfeld and Tardieu (2000). On his unique contribution to the field of social work, see in Faithful angels by Billups 2002. The conference was funded by Ben‐Gurion University of the Negev, Ashalim and JDC‐Brookdale Institute.

I wish to thank the 78 participants who had direct experiences with poverty, and the 28 policy professionals, social activists, social practitioners and academics who took part in the PAR. Their names appear in the position papers and are not mentioned here only because of space limitations. Special thanks to Adi Barak for his indefatigable assistance and partnership in this project, and to Leslie Bloom and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the article.

Notes

1. In their later articles the definitions were broadened and transformed from ‘people in poverty’ and ‘poverty discourse’ to ‘service users’ and ‘poverty discourse.’

2. The term ‘social practitioners’ refers to professionals who work at social services, mainly funded by the establishment (such as school principals, or directors of welfare services, social workers, etc.) as opposed to ‘social activists,’ who work in NGOs and social change movements and organizations.