For Us, By Us: Stretching the Boundaries of Sociology with Participatory Action Research

• In Event: Imaginative Sociology: Disrupting Epistemic Apartheid to Transform Education and Society

Abstract

This presentation explores the insight we gained while conducting a participatory action research (PAR) study as sociologists, as we found our conviction in both our discipline and this methodology strengthened through our approach. Specifically, we discuss PAR’s ability to evolve the discipline of sociology by centering marginalized epistemologies.
We conducted this study to learn more about Black teachers’ experiences and perspectives on the teaching profession. This research is important because while we know that Black teachers are invaluable and offer several unique contributions (Milner, 2006; Givens, 2021) we also know that they do so while existing in a system that actively works against them (Carter Andrews et al., 2019). Black teachers often feel under-appreciated and are rarely included in decision-making processes that directly affect their practices (Griffin & Tackie, 2017). Our study counters this marginalization by centering Black teachers not only in the data we collect, but throughout the entire research process. Black teacher-researchers created the research questions, designed the study, collected and analyzed data, and carried out relevant actions informed by the findings.

This study is informed by our understanding of the sociology of education as a discipline that guides researchers to examine how societal and systemic factors impact all individuals involved in our education system, but especially those who have been marginalized. However, while we believe in the power of sociology for examining the issues Black educators face, we also recognize a need to challenge traditional perspectives of what constitutes sociological understanding. As Fahlberg (2023) argues, the scholars and theories most often included in the canon of sociological literature reproduce colonial ideologies and Western ideas of knowledge. Shifting these beliefs and decolonizing sociology requires collaborative methodologies that include marginalized voices in the research design, data collection, and analysis. Freire’s (2014) scientific revolutionary humanism is one theory we employ to ensure that the Black teacher-researchers we work with are positioned as the experts of their experiences and their contexts. This theory calls on researchers to see the full humanity of oppressed people, and work with them to bring transformation to harmful systems. We respond to Freire’s call by working collectively with Black teachers and positioning them as the decision-makers. This approach of centering overlooked perspectives in a sociological study also provides our discipline a model for prioritizing voices and knowledge producers that are not always seen as valuable.

Additionally, to aid us in stretching the bounds of sociology, we included several interdisciplinary theories in our framework. Specifically, we include BlackCrit, Black feminist thought and racial capitalism. Black feminist thought’s concept of “standpoint theory” (Collins, 1997) informs our understanding that Black teachers possess unique social locations and ways of knowing that are important for systems change. BlackCrit and racial capitalism illuminate the need to consistently challenge the anti-Black racism and exploitation of Black bodies within our schools (Dumas & ross, 2016; Robinson, 2020). Pairing these theories with a sociological imagination allows sociologists to shift our discipline’s orientation toward marginalized voices and expand our beliefs about the epistemologies that are considered sociological.

Authors

• Leana Cabral, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Siettah Parks, Research for Action