Monday, April 25, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
2nd Event wrap-up: "History Informing the Present"
CPARN 2nd Event: History Informing the Present
Our 2nd meet plan schedule consisted of
-30minute introduction to PAR by Davydd Greenwood
-40 minute history of CPARN by previous members
-20 minutes to discuss the visit of prolific Australian PAR practitioner Ernie Stern (May 2nd 4:30-6:00pm 211 Sibley)
From our first meeting it was ascertained that a workshop type meeting with previous CPARN members, and Professor Davydd Greenwood, would be helpful and ground what PAR is and what it has looked like at Cornell.Beacuse navigating Cornell trasnportation/parking can be difficult we decided late-afternoon meetings (4:30 or 5pm) would be best in the future for creating accessibility.
Professor Davydd Greenwood currently teaches in the Anthropology dept and offers a class on the Anthropology of the University- or what exactly is at stake for the privatization and corporatizion of public education. In addition, Greenwood also teaches an Introduction to Participatory Action Research class where the idea of reviving the CPAR network was explored as a final project by classmates Courtney, Christina, and Jen. Greenwood has published numerous books and articles, with one of the most notable books being his co-authored text Introduction to Action Research.
We asked Davvyd to address 3 questions:
Q1. To talk about what Participatory Action meant to him
Q2. To explore what possibilities PAR allows for inside and outside the university
Q3. To explain when PAR is an appropriate methodology to use.
Davydd described PAR as a form of research in which the relevant stakeholders set the problem for study and define what is research, how the research will be interpreted, and what is to be done with the results. Then the research group comes back together to determine if the problem was adequately solved. If not, the process starts all over again with a different set of protocols and actions. This is why Participatory Action Research is understood to be a cyclical process, also visualized in the diagrams below.I pulled some images really quick off the Internet for diagrams of what the Action Research process looks like that may be helpful for some folks:
Yet the model above still looks too linear for conceptualizing a radically collaborative project and effort.
There! This model is much better at illustrating the circular nature of collaboration in action and reflection AT ALL STAGES of the research project.
I also see this model to the left as encapsulating the lengthy time and energy commitment to conducting AR.
Next, Davydd emphasized that the cyclical process of AR is what makes it non-exploitative by design: there are no bystanders, and everyone involved retains the intellectual property they are responsible for. This process makes it risky for everyone involved as they are accountable for their actions in ways that traditional research models obscure and deny, but this risk creates engaged scholarship and accurate results. Therefore, the commitment and accountability inherent in the design of this research process led Davydd to argue that PAR is democracy in action.
Q2- Davyd briefly touched on the implications for PAR inside the university. Davydd argues that public education is being turned into vocational training which threatens projects that are critical or reflexive of their own processes (ie AR is considered too political and not objective in positivist frameworks). Thus, the need for PAR inside the University is critical.
Outside the university, PAR looks like forms of community organizing where problems are articulated and identified by the stakeholders. Tapping into and epistemically privileging stakeholders' knowledge and experience allows for a drastically different research process than from an outside researcher.
Q3- Davydd clarified that PAR is not a research methodology but should be thought of as A STRATEGY- PAR is not pinned down to specific research methods (an assertion I believe we could spend more time teasing out if we wanted). Therefore, Davydd argued PAR is always an appropriate strategy to use: It's a way of orchestrating research strategies of people's intimate experiences you as a professional researcher will never have access to.
C.P.A.R.N. HISTORY
This discussion then led into what the aims, purposes, and accomplishments of Cornell's Participatory Action Research Network were. Davydd emphasized CPARN was initiated by the students, not the faculty. Davydd also said that the faculty can't sustain such a network and it is really up to the students to organize themselves and organize a community that withstands generations of students. It was important that the network was started by students because it could address student's needs in acquiring moral and financial support for their research projects, but also that students could commit more of their time and energy to sustaining a community than over-burdened professors. Previous members of CPARN were able to elaborate that the network worked best when Faculty was given small parts (arranging one talk or one presentation for instance) that encouraged flexible commitment & participation. Yet it was also stressed that faculty and practitioners in the community would love to be contacted and involved and have this group reach out to them. Davydd also said the Public Service Center has also been very supprtive of CPARN and should be considered a future resource.
Food for thought: what can CPARN do to democratize knowledge production, not just learn from this method, but really engage the community?
So what was CPARN?
CPARN was the establishment of a secure place and community to find support from others curious about and engaged in Action Research. Because students and faculty are separated in silos of knowledge it is hard to know who else is out there that has encountered similar setback or roadblocks. A community for doing this type of research that challenges dominant paradigms of knowledge production is critical (especially when alone in uncooperative/non-supportive/antagonistic departments!)
What did CPARN do?
Ernie Stringer- is an Australian PAR Practitioner that has published over 10 books and sits on the editorial board of the AR Journal. His work currently involves aboriginal schools in the outback, and will be coming for a longer visit to Cornell in a year or so (He will be a great resource to work with when he is here). His first preliminary visit will be on Monday May 2nd from 4:30pm-6pm at 211 Sibley.
Further areas to plan and discuss:
Shortterm:
--acquire undergraduate group funding
-- acquire graduate group funding
Our 2nd meet plan schedule consisted of
-30minute introduction to PAR by Davydd Greenwood
-40 minute history of CPARN by previous members
-20 minutes to discuss the visit of prolific Australian PAR practitioner Ernie Stern (May 2nd 4:30-6:00pm 211 Sibley)
From our first meeting it was ascertained that a workshop type meeting with previous CPARN members, and Professor Davydd Greenwood, would be helpful and ground what PAR is and what it has looked like at Cornell.Beacuse navigating Cornell trasnportation/parking can be difficult we decided late-afternoon meetings (4:30 or 5pm) would be best in the future for creating accessibility.
Professor Davydd Greenwood currently teaches in the Anthropology dept and offers a class on the Anthropology of the University- or what exactly is at stake for the privatization and corporatizion of public education. In addition, Greenwood also teaches an Introduction to Participatory Action Research class where the idea of reviving the CPAR network was explored as a final project by classmates Courtney, Christina, and Jen. Greenwood has published numerous books and articles, with one of the most notable books being his co-authored text Introduction to Action Research.
We asked Davvyd to address 3 questions:
Q1. To talk about what Participatory Action meant to him
Q2. To explore what possibilities PAR allows for inside and outside the university
Q3. To explain when PAR is an appropriate methodology to use.
Davydd described PAR as a form of research in which the relevant stakeholders set the problem for study and define what is research, how the research will be interpreted, and what is to be done with the results. Then the research group comes back together to determine if the problem was adequately solved. If not, the process starts all over again with a different set of protocols and actions. This is why Participatory Action Research is understood to be a cyclical process, also visualized in the diagrams below.I pulled some images really quick off the Internet for diagrams of what the Action Research process looks like that may be helpful for some folks:
Yet the model above still looks too linear for conceptualizing a radically collaborative project and effort.
There! This model is much better at illustrating the circular nature of collaboration in action and reflection AT ALL STAGES of the research project.
I also see this model to the left as encapsulating the lengthy time and energy commitment to conducting AR.
Next, Davydd emphasized that the cyclical process of AR is what makes it non-exploitative by design: there are no bystanders, and everyone involved retains the intellectual property they are responsible for. This process makes it risky for everyone involved as they are accountable for their actions in ways that traditional research models obscure and deny, but this risk creates engaged scholarship and accurate results. Therefore, the commitment and accountability inherent in the design of this research process led Davydd to argue that PAR is democracy in action.
Q2- Davyd briefly touched on the implications for PAR inside the university. Davydd argues that public education is being turned into vocational training which threatens projects that are critical or reflexive of their own processes (ie AR is considered too political and not objective in positivist frameworks). Thus, the need for PAR inside the University is critical.
Outside the university, PAR looks like forms of community organizing where problems are articulated and identified by the stakeholders. Tapping into and epistemically privileging stakeholders' knowledge and experience allows for a drastically different research process than from an outside researcher.
Q3- Davydd clarified that PAR is not a research methodology but should be thought of as A STRATEGY- PAR is not pinned down to specific research methods (an assertion I believe we could spend more time teasing out if we wanted). Therefore, Davydd argued PAR is always an appropriate strategy to use: It's a way of orchestrating research strategies of people's intimate experiences you as a professional researcher will never have access to.
C.P.A.R.N. HISTORY
This discussion then led into what the aims, purposes, and accomplishments of Cornell's Participatory Action Research Network were. Davydd emphasized CPARN was initiated by the students, not the faculty. Davydd also said that the faculty can't sustain such a network and it is really up to the students to organize themselves and organize a community that withstands generations of students. It was important that the network was started by students because it could address student's needs in acquiring moral and financial support for their research projects, but also that students could commit more of their time and energy to sustaining a community than over-burdened professors. Previous members of CPARN were able to elaborate that the network worked best when Faculty was given small parts (arranging one talk or one presentation for instance) that encouraged flexible commitment & participation. Yet it was also stressed that faculty and practitioners in the community would love to be contacted and involved and have this group reach out to them. Davydd also said the Public Service Center has also been very supprtive of CPARN and should be considered a future resource.
Food for thought: what can CPARN do to democratize knowledge production, not just learn from this method, but really engage the community?
So what was CPARN?
CPARN was the establishment of a secure place and community to find support from others curious about and engaged in Action Research. Because students and faculty are separated in silos of knowledge it is hard to know who else is out there that has encountered similar setback or roadblocks. A community for doing this type of research that challenges dominant paradigms of knowledge production is critical (especially when alone in uncooperative/non-supportive/antagonistic departments!)
What did CPARN do?
- became an official student group (undergrad & grad) to obtain funding that essentially served as a CPARN budget. This budget, coupled with collective fundraising, allowed the pooling of money and resources to allow ALL of the CPARN members to travel to South Africa for aAR conference
- set up consulting meetings where audience of peers could review and critique work presented
- weekly meeting with revolving duties, food, speakers, and events (official group status allowed $$ to bring in outside speakers!)
- set up and utilized a CPARN listserv
- accessible web presence
- established a PARchive linking practiconers to past projects, and other practiconers & faculty elsewhere
- provided a crew of people to come out and support one another at defenses
- CPARN designed a course as an Action Research Project that accomplished the design of a syllabus in 2 meetings. This course was offered as an independt study to bypass insitutional hurdles in offering new courses.
Ernie Stringer- is an Australian PAR Practitioner that has published over 10 books and sits on the editorial board of the AR Journal. His work currently involves aboriginal schools in the outback, and will be coming for a longer visit to Cornell in a year or so (He will be a great resource to work with when he is here). His first preliminary visit will be on Monday May 2nd from 4:30pm-6pm at 211 Sibley.
Further areas to plan and discuss:
Shortterm:
- -when will our next meet be? what will this meeting address?
- -brainstorm on Ernie Stern's visit MONDAY MAY 2nd 4:30-6:00pm in 211 Sibley; invite faculty: New Anthro professor Sophia?
- -add peers, friends, colleagues, thesis/dissertation titles to current/past PAR projects in the comments sections
- -create 2 email lists: 1 spam for grads on housekeeping issues and another for more general invites and important community announcements
--acquire undergraduate group funding
-- acquire graduate group funding
Site News
Hey Everyone, thanks for keeping up with us as we struggle to get this off the ground and try to juggle our assorted over-commitments! As always, please do get in contact with us through the email CORNELL.PAR.NETWORK@GMAIL.COM or our individual emails (Courtney, Christina, Jen jla248). Want to halp keep up and directly add to the site? Please write me (jla248) to get site mail/password!
I have enabled comments on all portions of the site and would encourage you to add your contacts of current PAR researchers to the "Current Action Research Project" page in the comments section. This could also serve as the 'Peer-Referencing' page though listing faculty and alumni at other schools and outside the academy that do PAR work.
Also please see the "Parchive-past Thesis/Dissertations and Committees; past PAR projects" to contribute your knowledge of past PAR thesis/dissertations and committee members in the comments section.
We have a running email contact list, but are looking to incorprate that list into a blog site widget so people can sign on easier! Please do leave us comments here about joining, and ideas for the site, etc!
I have enabled comments on all portions of the site and would encourage you to add your contacts of current PAR researchers to the "Current Action Research Project" page in the comments section. This could also serve as the 'Peer-Referencing' page though listing faculty and alumni at other schools and outside the academy that do PAR work.
Also please see the "Parchive-past Thesis/Dissertations and Committees; past PAR projects" to contribute your knowledge of past PAR thesis/dissertations and committee members in the comments section.
We have a running email contact list, but are looking to incorprate that list into a blog site widget so people can sign on easier! Please do leave us comments here about joining, and ideas for the site, etc!
Cornell grad alumni awarded $5 million grant for PAR food justice project
UW Assistant Professor Awarded $5 Million Grant for Sustainable Community Food Project
(Thanks to Devon for sharing this news with us!)
April 11, 2011 — A University of Wyoming professor is leading a $5-million, multi-state project to build community food systems that nourish populations in both current and future generations.
Christine M. Porter, assistant professor in the College of Health Sciences Division of Kinesiology and Health, leads the five-year "Food Dignity: Action Research on Engaging Food Insecure Communities and Universities in Building Sustainable Community Food Systems," project. It is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Competitive Grant program. This is the largest USDA grant the university has received, says Bill Gern, UW vice president for research and economic development. Porter’s project has three facets: extension, research and education.
The project's extension portion includes five community food initiatives. Each will create a local steering committee to disperse small grants that invest in citizen solutions to their own food system issues.
Two of the initiatives are in Wyoming -- Gayle Woodsum of Action Resources International is organizing the Albany County project and Virginia Sutter of Blue Mountain Associates, Inc. will lead the Wind River Indian Reservation initiative. The others are Dig Deep Farms and Produce in Alameda County, Calif.; Whole Community Project of Cornell Cooperative Extension, Tompkins County, N.Y.; and East New York Farms!, Brooklyn, N.Y.
The research focuses on developing case studies of what each community has already done and during the next five years will make clear what factors influence their successes and failures as they work to create sustainable community food systems that provide ample and appropriate food for all, Porter says.
The education portion aims to create new cross-disciplinary undergraduate minors in sustainable food systems to prepare UW and Cornell University graduate students to engage in this work.
"At UW, the team developing the minor is considering nesting this within a more generic sustainability program of study," Porter says.
She says the project comes at a crucial time in today's economy.
"We are close to peak oil and peak soil, are enduring the greatest wealth and income inequality in decades, and somewhat ironically, face soaring rates of both food insecurity and obesity," Porter says.
While there is no single cure-all for these problems, Porter and her team view community food system development as a core part of the solution.
"We'll never compete with China in making plastic buckets or tennis shoes," she says, "But we can grow, process and sell our own food. The more we localize food systems, the more local jobs we create and the fresher our food is when it reaches our plates."
She also says research shows that medium-sized producers are more productive than industrial-scale farms and also tend to be more attentive to ecological and community sustainability.
While finishing her doctoral degree work, Porter says AFRI had a call for proposals to foster food security and local economic development through a blend of research, extension and education.
That pushed her to "dream bigger than I ever would have before dared." She assembled a team of more than two dozen top-notch community food practitioners and UW and Cornell University representatives for the "Food Dignity" proposal.
Many UW faculty, staff and students are involved in the project, including Urszula Norton, Kent Becker, Bill Gribb, Cole Ehmke, Deborah Paulson, Jill Lovato, Cheryl Geiger, Leslie Darnall and Peggy McCrackin.
For more information about the project, contact Darnall at (307) 766-2141, email ldarnall@uwyo.edu or visit the website at www.fooddignity.org .
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