Sharing Power in Participatory Action Research with Undocumented College Students

• In Event: Critical Participatory Action Research for Us, by Us in U.S. Postsecondary Education

Abstract

CPAR is a transformative methodology aiming to translate systematic investigations into tangible and immediate activities that benefit the communities at the center of the inquiry (Brown & Rodríguez, 2009). As part of the inquiry process, members of the community impacted by the phenomenon under study embrace the role of co-researchers (Brown & Rodríguez, 2009). As co-researchers, inside researchers (also referred to as community researchers) engage in all steps of the study, from the inquiry design to the data analysis stages. Their experiences relating to the phenomena under study make them experts and provide them with unique insider insights as co-researchers (Salazar, 2022). In the PAR process, outside researchers (also referred to as academic researchers), who regularly initiate the investigations, must commit to sharing power with inside researchers as the study unfolds, making decisions together on the directions the inquiry will take. Through these actions, outside researchers disrupt conventional forms of knowledge production, which often constrict members of the communities at the center of investigations to passive roles like participants (Gaventa & Cornwall, 2001). By sharing power, outside and inside researchers engage in transformative actions via their relationships and collaborative decision-making (Hacker, 2013; Salazar, 2021).

While CPAR aims to create platforms for genuine collaborations, it can be difficult to completely disrupt power dynamics. Because outside researchers are usually the ones initiating PAR studies, inside researchers can perceive them as having more authority than them despite all efforts to convey a message of parity. Furthermore, outside researchers may have greater access to power structures as they engage in PAR projects, like access to funding and career advancement opportunities, than inside researchers due to their roles within their institutions or organizations. These dynamics can interfere with the power-sharing ideals of PAR via unspoken impressions of dominance and complicate relationships between inside and outside researchers. Thus, it is critical for outside researchers to create opportunities to share power early on with inside researchers and enter the projects with a true commitment to disrupting dominance via shared decision-making. This commitment is even more crucial when working with members of marginalized communities as co-researchers, like Black college students and undocumented immigrants for example, because there is a risk of further perpetuating oppression when the aim of PAR is to promote social justice.

Knowing that it can be hard to identify opportunities to share power in PAR projects early on and that it can be easy to reinforce patterns of exclusion in academia, in this paper, I include an in-depth example of how I shared power with undocumented college students who serve as my co-researchers in a PAR project in Virginia (Salazar, 2020). The narrative I offer centers the selection process of my co-researchers, as this is one of the first steps taken in PAR projects. Following the example, I offer my reflections on the challenges I experienced sharing power with my co-researchers through this process, as well as the opportunities that making decisions together created.

Author

• Cinthya Salazar, University of California - Los Angeles