Handbook on Participatory Action Research and Community Development

Edited by Randy Stoecker, Professor and Director of the Applied Population Laboratory, Department of Community and Environmental Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Adrienne Falcón, Professor and Director of the Masters of Advocacy and Political Leadership, Chair of the Public and Nonprofit Leadership Department, Metropolitan State University, US

This Handbook is a critical resource for carefully considering the possibilities and challenges of strategically integrating participatory action research (PAR) and community development (CD). Utilizing practical examples from diverse contexts across five continents, it looks at how communities are empowering themselves and bringing about systemic change.

‘The authors in this illuminating volume represent a diverse array of places, positions, and participatory initiatives. Their thoughtful analyses of their specific contexts and approaches to knowledge production and community change offer rich theoretical insights and examples that will be useful to students, faculty, and practitioners interested in collaborative research and action.’
– Julie L. Plaut, Brown University, US

‘By combining PAR and Community Development, the editors frame each article’s commitment to praxis for social change within the radical traditions of global south educators and activists such as Friere, Fals Borda, and Rahman. The various cases range from rural to urban, national to global, and cover issues from health and the environment to homelessness and community planning. For anyone studying or implementing community-based collaborations for research and action projects, this book offers a treasure trove of innovative case studies and inspirational possibilities. For anyone, like me, who still holds fast to the potential of engaged research for social justice, even in the face of neoliberal universities hell-bent on sucking the life blood out of faculty and students in search of a more just and humane world, this book is a lifeline.’
– Corey Dolgon, Stonehill College, US