Connecting relational wellbeing and participatory action research

Reflections on ‘unlikely’ transformations among women caring for disabled children in South Africa

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12893284
AutoresElise J van der Mark (0000-0002-2318-7061, Athena Sustainable Materials Institute, autor correspondente), Teun Zuiderent-Jerak (0000-0003-3008-1297, Athena Sustainable Materials Institute), Christine Dedding (0000-0003-3296-4245, Athena Sustainable Materials Institute), Ina Conradie (0000-0002-5374-7410, University of the Western Cape), Jacqueline E W Broerse (0000-0002-8478-3422, Athena Sustainable Materials Institute)
Ano2023
Volume19
Fascículo1
Páginas80-104
Data de publicação2023-01-02
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Global Ethics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1744-9626 • E-ISSN: 1744-9634
EditoraRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17449626.2023.2186468
OpenAlexW4353067031
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas42

Participatory action research (PAR) is a form of community-driven qualitative research which aims to collaboratively take action to improve participants’ lives. This is generally achieved through cognitive, reflexive learning cycles, whereby people ultimately enhance their wellbeing. This approach builds on two assumptions: (1) participants are able to reflect on and prioritize difficulties they face; (2) collective impetus and action are progressively achieved, ultimately leading to increased wellbeing. This article complicates these assumptions by analyzing a two-year PAR project with mothers of disabled children from a South African urban settlement. Participant observation notes, interviews, and a group discussion served as primary data. We found that mothers’ severe psychological stress and the strong intersectionality of their daily challenges hampered participation. Consequently, mothers considered the project ‘inactionable’. Yet, many women quickly started expressing important individual and collective wellbeing transformations. To understand these ‘unlikely’ transformations, a feminist relational account, in particular, that of relational wellbeing, proves essential. We reflect on the consequences of these findings for the dominant PAR methodology and operationalization, and propose to sensitize future PAR with marginalized women by employing relational wellbeing as an overarching ontological awareness

Action (physics · Citizen journalism · Epistemology · Intersectionality · Operationalization · Participatory action research · Political science · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Mental Health and Patient Involvement · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Psychology · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · Social Psychology