Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Participatory Action Research as a Resource for Community Regeneration in Post-conflict Contexts

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Methodologies in Peace Psychology

Part of the book series: Peace Psychology Book Series ((PPBS,volume 26))

Abstract

Participatory action research has been engaged by outsider researchers and activist scholars seeking to accompany survivors of violence and gross violations of human rights in their struggles to build peace in transitional societies. This chapter discusses some of these initiatives, with a particular focus on gender violence during the armed conflict in Guatemala, the site of the authors’ long-term engagement. The chapter draws on antiracist and anticolonial feminisms to critically engage tendencies in hegemonic feminist, peacebuilding, and transitional justice discourses to essentialize gender violence and women, to instead argue that gender violence is inherently racialized, and requires attention to indigenous struggles. It explores how participatory workshops that incorporate creative techniques (e.g., drawing, dramatizations, and creative storytelling) and embodied practices (including, in the context of Guatemala, Mayan practices and beliefs) can generate spaces through which intermediaries and protagonists can co-construct alternative ways of knowing, performing suffering and resistance towards the regeneration of women’s and indigenous communities in contexts of ongoing impunity. These spaces of action–reflection facilitate outsider researchers’ critical reflexivity through which they interrogate their power and privilege towards collaborative actions alongside protagonists and other intermediaries with whom they are working.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The title translation from the original Spanish is by the authors, as are all quotes from this publication.

References

  • Bartunek, J. M., & Louis, M. R. (1996). Insider/outsider team research. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bastos, S., Cumes, A., & Lemus, L. (2007). Mayanización y vida cotidiana [Mayanization and everyday life]. Guatemala: FLACSO, CIRMA, Cholsamaj.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, C. (2009). Transitional justice, interdisciplinarity and the state of the ‘field’ or ‘non-field’, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 3(1), 5–27. doi:10.1093/ijtj/ijn044.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blacklock, C., & Crosby, A. (2004). The sounds of silence: Feminist research across time in Guatemala. In W. Giles & J. Hyndman (Eds.), Sites of violence: Gender and conflict zones (pp. 45–72). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boal, A. (2000). Theater of the oppressed. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cabrera Pérez-Armiñan, M. L., & Lykes, M. B. (2008). Compartir la memoria colectiva: Acompañamiento psicosocial y justicia integral para mujeres víctimas de violencia sexual en conflictos armados [Sharing our collective memory: Psychosocial accompaniment and integral justice for women, victims of sexual violence in armed conflict]. Guatemala: PCS-Consejeria en Proyectos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cannella, G. S., & Manuelito, K. D. (2008). Feminisms from unthought locations: Indigenous worldviews, marginalized feminisms, and revisioning an anticolonial social science. In N. K. Denzin, Y. S. Lincoln, & L. T. Smith, Handbook of critical and indigenous methodologies (pp. 45–59). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • CEH: Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico [Commission for Historical Clarification]. (1999). Guatemala: Memory of silence Tz’inil Na’tab’al. Guatemala: Guatemala. Retrieved from http://shr.aaas.org/guatemala/ceh/mds/spanish/toc.html. Accessed 31 Aug 2014.

  • Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Combahee River Collective. (1983). Combahee River Collective: A black feminist statement. In B. Smith (Ed.), Home girls: A black feminist anthology (pp. 264–274). New York: Kitchen Table—Women of Color Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, A. (2009). Anatomy of a workshop: Women’s struggles for transformative participation in Latin America. Feminism & Psychology, 19(3), 342–353. doi:10.1177/0959353509105625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, A., & Lykes, M. B. (2011). Mayan women survivors speak: The gendered relations of truth-telling in postwar Guatemala. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 5(3), 456–476. doi:10.1093/ijtj/ijr017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, A., Lykes, M. B., & Caxaj, B. (In press, 2016). Moving beyond suffering: Mayan women’s struggles for reparation in postconflict Guatemala.

    Google Scholar 

  • Das, V. (2007). Life and words: Violence and the descent into the ordinary. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farmer, P. (2003). Pathologies of power: Health, human rights, and the new war on the poor. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fine, M., & Ruglis, J. (2009). Circuits and consequences of dispossession: The racialized realignment of the public sphere for U.S. youth. Transforming Anthropology, 17(1), 20–33. doi:10.1111/j.1548–7466.2009.01037.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fulchiron, A., Paz, O. A., & Lopez, A. (2009). Tejidos que lleva el alma: Memoria de las mujeres mayas sobrevivientes de violación sexual durante el conflicto armado. [Weavings of the soul: Memories of Mayan women survivors of sexual violence during the armed conflict]. Guatemala City: Community Studies and Psychosocial Action Team, National Union of Guatemalan Women and F & G Editores.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grupo de Mujeres Mayas Kaqla. (2006). La internalización de la opresión. Una propuesta metodológica [The internalization of oppression: A methodological proposal]. Guatemala: Grupo de Mujeres Mayas Kaqla.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamber, B., & Gallagher, E. (2015). Psychosocial perspectives on peacebuilding. Cham: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-09937-8_5

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Harding, S. (1991). Whose science? Whose knowledge? Thinking from women’s lives. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, N. (2009). Witness to rape: The limits and potential of international war crimes trials for victims of wartime sexual violence. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 3(1), 114–134. doi:10.1093/ijtj/ijn036.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollander, T., & Gill, B. (2014). Every day the war continues in my body: Examining the marked body in postconflict Northern Uganda. The International Journal of Transitional Justice, 8, 217–234. (Advance online publication.) doi:10.1093/ijtj/iju007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambourne, W. (2009). Transitional justice and peacebuilding after mass violence. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 3, 28–48. doi:10.1093/ijtj/ijn037.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lykes, M. B. (1994). Terror, silencing, and children: International multidisciplinary collaboration with Guatemalan Maya communities. Social Science and Medicine, 38(4), 543–552. doi:10.1016/0277-9536(94)90250-X.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lykes, M. B. (2001). Creative arts and photography in participatory action research in Guatemala. In P. Reason & H. Bradbury (Eds.), Handbook of action research (pp. 363–371). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lykes, M. B. (2010). Silence(ing), memory(ies) and voice(s): Feminist participatory action research and photo-narratives in the wake of gross violations of human rights. Visual Studies, 25(3), 238–254. doi:10.1080/1472586X.2010.523276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lykes, M. B., & Crosby, A. (2014a). Creativity as an intervention strategy with Mayan women in Guatemala. Intervention: International Journal of Mental Health, Psychosocial Work and Counselling in Areas of Armed Conflict, 12(1), 30–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lykes, M. B., & Crosby, A. (2014b). Feminist practice of community and participatory and action research. In S. Hesse-Biber (Ed.), Feminist research practice: A primer (3rd  ed., ) (pp. 145–181). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lykes, M.B., & Crosby, A. (2015). Creative methodologies as a resource for Mayan women’s protagonism. In B.randon Hamber & E.lizabeth Gallagher (Eds.), Psychosocial perspectives on peacebuilding (pp. 147–186). Cham: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-09937-8_5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lykes, M. B., & Hershberg, R. (2012). Participatory action research and feminisms: Social inequalities and transformative praxis. In S. Hesse-Biber (Ed.), Handbook of feminist research II: Theory and praxis (pp. 331–367). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lykes, M. B., & Mersky, M. (2006). Reparations and mental health: Psychosocial interventions towards healing, human agency, and rethreading social realities. In P. de Greiff (Ed.), The handbook of reparations (pp. 589–622). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/0199291926.003.0018

    Google Scholar 

  • Lykes, M. B., Beristain, C. M., & Cabrera Pérez-Armiñan, M. L. (2007). Political violence, impunity, and emotional climate in Maya communities. Journal of Social Issues, 63(2), 369–385. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00514.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martín-Baró, I. (1996). Writings for a liberation psychology. (A. Aron and S. Corne, (Eds. and Trans.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKay, S., Veale, A., Worthen, M., & Wessells, M. (2011). Building meaningful participation in reintegration among war-affected young mothers in Liberia, Sierra Leone and northern Uganda. Intervention: International Journal of Mental Health, Psychosocial Work and Counselling in Areas of Armed Conflict, 9(2), 108–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melville, M., & Lykes, M. B. (1992). Guatemalan Indian children and the sociocultural effects of government-sponsored terrorism. Social Science and Medicine, 34(5), 533–548. doi:10.1016/0277-9536(92)90209-9

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mendia Azkue, I., & Gúzman Orellana, G. (Eds.). (2012). Ni olvido, ni silencio: Tribunal de Conciencia contra la violencia sexual hacia las mujeres durante el conflicto armado en Guatemala [No forgetting, no silence: Tribunal of conscience against violence against women during the armed conflict in Guatemala]. Bilbao: Universidad de Pais Vasco, Hegoa, & UNAMG.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merry, S. E. (2006). Transnational human rights and local activism: Mapping the middle. American Anthropologist, 108(1), 38–51. doi:10.1525/aa.2006.108.1.38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohanty, C. T. (2003). Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ODHAG/REMHI—Oficina de Derechos Humanos del Arzobispo de Guatemala [The Archbishop’s Office of Human Rights of Guatemala]. (1998). Nunca Mas: Impactos de la Violencia [Never again: Impact of the violence]. Guatemala: Litografía e Imprenta LIL, SA ([also referred to as the REMHI Report)].

    Google Scholar 

  • Pavlovsky, E., Martinez Bouquet, C., & Moscio, F. (1985). Psicodrama: Cuándo y por qué dramatizar [Psychodrama: When and why to dramatize]. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Busqueda.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reason, P., & Bradbury, H. (2008). The SAGE handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rodari, G. (1996). The grammar of fantasy: An introduction to the art of inventing stories. (trans: J. Zipes., Trans.). New York: Teachers & Writers Collaborative.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sholock, A. (2012) Methodology of the privileged: White anti-racist feminism, systematic ignorance, and epistemic uncertainty. Hypatia, 27(4), 701–714.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing research methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Dunedin: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. (2005). Conquest: Sexual violence and American Indian genocide. Cambridge: South End Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smyth, M. (2004). Using participative action research with war-affected populations: Lessons from research in Northern Ireland and South Africa. In M. Smyth & E. Williamson (Eds.), Researchers and their ‘subjects’: Ethics, power, knowledge and consent (pp. 137–156). Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smyth, M. (2005). Insider outsider issues in researching violence and divided societies. In E. Porter, G. Robinson, M. Smyth, A. Schnable, & E. Osaghae (Eds.), Researching conflict in Africa: Insights and experiences (pp. 9–23). Tokyo: United Nations University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuck, E. (2009). Suspending damage: A letter to communities. Harvard Educational Review, 79(3), 409–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Velásquez Nimatuj, I. A. (2012). Peritaje cultural [Expert witness testimony on culture]. In I. Mendia Azkue & G. Gúzman Orellana (Eds.), Ni olvido, ni silencio: Tribunal de Conciencia contra la violencia sexual hacia las mujeres durante el conflicto armado en Guatemala [No forgetting, no silence: Tribunal of Conscience against sexual violence against women during the armed conflict in Guatemala] (pp. 119–126). Bilbao: Universidad de Pais Vasco, Hegoa, & UNAMG.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, C. (1999). Photovoice: A participatory action research strategy applied to women’s health. Journal of Women’s Health, 8(2), 185–192. doi:10.1089/jwh.1999.8.185.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weis, L., & Fine, M. (2012). Critical bifocality and circuits of privilege: Expanding critical ethnographic theory and design. Harvard Educational Review, 82(2), 173–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Women of PhotoVoice/ADMI., & Lykes, M.B. (2000). Voces e imágenes: Mujeres Mayas Ixiles de Chajul. [Voices and images: Mayan Ixil women of Chajul]. Guatemala: Magna Terra.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Human Rights and International Justice, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, USA

    M. Brinton Lykes

  2. The School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies and Director of the Centre for Feminist Research, York University, Toronto, Canada

    Alison Crosby

Authors
  1. M. Brinton Lykes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alison Crosby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Brinton Lykes .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia

    Diane Bretherton

  2. Victoria University, Melbournne, Victoria, Australia

    Siew Fang Law

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lykes, M., Crosby, A. (2015). Participatory Action Research as a Resource for Community Regeneration in Post-conflict Contexts. In: Bretherton, D., Law, S. (eds) Methodologies in Peace Psychology. Peace Psychology Book Series, vol 26. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18395-4_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation