Participatory research: Revisiting the roots
Date
2002
Authors
Tandon, Rajesh
Hall, Budd
Brown, L. David
Jaitli, Harsh
Kanhere, Vijay
Small, Dele
Gaventa, John
Merrifield, Juliet
Madiath, Anthya
Belamide, Eileen
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Publisher
Mosaic Books
Abstract
It has been nearly a quarter of a century since the early formulations of participatory research began to be presented hesitatingly and tentatively. Those early proposals were essentially a reaction to the classical methodology of research and inquiry which had alienated the social science research enterprise from the very people about whom research was being carried out. In a simple way, stated then, participatory research challenged the 'monopoly of knowledge' which has been vested in the elites of our society. The production of knowledge, its certification and dissemination have been controlled by intellectual elites in all human societies, since a long period of time. The Brahmanical order justified its hierarchy by making the distinction between intellectual work and physical work. Brahmins were the repositories of knowledge and wisdom, could use the language of God's 'Sanskrit', and interpret the religious scriptures to prescribe the social norms and behaviour for the rest of society. Similar Brahmanical orders have existed in other cultures and other histories. Therefore, the first significant contribution of participatory research has been to challenge the mythical and artificial divide between mental labour and manual labour, intellectual pursuits and physical pursuits. It has questioned the belief that capacity for intellectual work resides in only a few. It argued that popular knowledge, ability to produce and use knowledge, is a universal human phenomenon, and such capacity exists in all human beings, so argued participatory research then.
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Citation
Tandon, R., Hall, B., Brown, L. D., Jaitli, H., Kanhere, V., Small, D., Gaventa, J., Merrifield, J., Madiath, A., Belamide, E., Bryceson, D., Manicom, L., Kassam, Y., Vio Grossi, F., Hirabai Hiralal, M., Tare, S., Batliwala, S., Patel, S., & Khot, S. (2002). Participatory research: revisiting the roots (R. Tandon, Ed.). Mosaic Books.