Moving with the Movements: Participatory Action Research In/Action

Authors

  • Jonathan Langdon St. Francis Xavier University
  • Sheena Cameron OISE, University of Toronto
  • Natalie Krieger St. Francis Xavier University
  • Alhassan Shani Nanton District Assembly, Ghana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33524/cjar.v22i1.538

Keywords:

Ghana, Participatory action research, Resource extraction, Social movement learning

Abstract

Participation by its very nature is iterative, meaning Participatory Action Research (PAR) must be responsive to the way participation manifests and what actions emerge from this participation. In the article that follows, we share the complex and intertwined stories of PAR in action in two social movement contexts in Ghana, as well as the conditions that led to inaction in these two stories. This article builds on previous related work, where PAR was described as “moving with the movement” (Langdon & Larweh, 2015), and describes the complexities of trying to move with the movement as conditions and relationships change over time. By sharing challenges and achievements that have emerged from the movement and research, we illustrate how moving with the movement has resulted in rich and unanticipated learnings.

Author Biographies

Jonathan Langdon, St. Francis Xavier University

Jonathan Langdon is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Sustainability and Social Change Leadership at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He has been working with social movements in Ghana for the last 19 years, and more specifically with a movement in Ada defending communal access to a salt yielding lagoon since 2008. His recent work connects with other resource contention hot spots in Ghana, as well as with Indigenous Mayan educators/activists in Guatemala. He also works closely with climate justice movements and Mi’kmaq First Nation Water Protectors in Nova Scotia).

Sheena Cameron, OISE, University of Toronto

Sheena Cameron has been engaged in community development, solidarity and experiential learning in Canada, Ghana and Guatemala for the last 18 years and has worked with this PAR work in Ghana since 2012 as a research assistant. She holds a Masters in Communication and Social Justice from the University of Windsor focusing on media representation of the Canadian mining industry’s activities abroad and community resistance. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Social Justice Education at OISE, University of Toronto focusing on Indigenous and non-Indigenous partnerships within the climate/environmental justice movement. She has also been a part-time lecturer in the Development Studies program at St. Francis Xavier University since 2014.

Natalie Krieger, St. Francis Xavier University

Natalie “nat” Krieger (she/they) has a B.A. in Aquatic Resources from St. Francis Xavier University. She spent the summers (Ghana rainy seasons) of 2018 and 2019 in Ada, Ghana with Radio Ada and the Yihi Katseme supporting and documenting their struggle for the Songor Salt Lagoon on this participatory action research (PAR). Their undergraduate research focuses on the salt politics and Indigenous resource management techniques preserved by artisanal salt winners within the Songor Lagoon of Ada, Ghana. She is particularly interested in ecofeminism, deep ecology, and community radio as a form of activism.

Alhassan Shani, Nanton District Assembly, Ghana

Mr. Alhassan Shani is a development practitioner based in the Tamale, Ghana with an accumulated seven years of experience working in development research, community mobilization, social accountability, monitoring and evaluation of projects and development planning process. He is currently a Deputy Development Planning Officer in the Nanton District Assembly in Northern Ghana. Alhassan’s development orientation is firmly rooted in participatory development. Additionally, he is passionate about research that encourages community participation, learning and action.

Downloads

Published

2021-10-05

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 1 (2021)

Section

Articles

License

Copyrighted material allows the author to quote briefly (up to 100 words) for scholarly purposes from most published materials, providing the source is correctly cited within the manuscript. If the author wishes to use figures, tables, or longer quotations, written permission must be obtained from the writer or publisher to reprint the material. Under such circumstances, the author needs to provide a permission summary with their manuscript submission. Written permissions must also be provided by subjects in any photographs or audio or video segments. If the subjects are children, a signed release from a parent or guardian must be provided for each child visible in the photograph or video segment, or heard on an audio clip.
In addition, although linking to another site does not require permission, replication (such as "screen shots") or description of a site within the manuscript requires permission to be sought from originator of web site, including those created by students, teachers, or schools.