Doing and Critically Evaluating Participatory Action Research in Migration Studies

Dear Colleagues,

We are opening a call for a Special Issue entitled “Doing and Critically Evaluating Participatory Action Research in Migration Studies”.

Participatory Action Research (PAR) allies theory and practice, aiming to address and solve immediate problems and determine best-practice solutions. It acknowledges people's capacity in given settings and when going through particular life challenges to actively participate in the research process by addressing their specific experiential challenges. In recent years, increased attention has been given to Participatory Action methodologies in the context of a shift towards post-colonial methodologies that acknowledge the value of more horizontal methodological approaches, which bring together, in a collaborative endeavour for the co-construction of knowledge, researchers and research participants. Collaborative peer researchers and art-based events are excellent examples of such an epistemological shift. Peer research is an action-based research methodology that takes advantage of the participation of the people whose living experiences are the object of study in the research endeavour. Acknowledging active participation in the direction and conduction of research stems from a recognition (common to PAR approaches) that individuals whose experiences are being researched are themselves competent experts in the object of study and perfectly capable of participating in the research process as co-constructors of knowledge. As for art-based research, this involves a systematic use of artistic processes and the elaboration of artistic expressions in all forms to analyse and understand (construct or extract meaning from) the lived experiences of research participants and researchers themselves. Art-based events are participatory and collaborative in nature and aim to co-produce or co-construct new and eventually emancipatory or empowering perspectives/actions using creativity and storytelling.

The present call for a Special Issue on the use of PAR within migration and integration studies is to be underpinned by theoretical contributions and new empirical research that broadens and further explores the use of PAR while critically assessing it in the field of migrant (post-)integration processes. The use of art-based events and peer researchers opens spaces for active and creative participation in the co-construction of new knowledge and innovative ways of constructing meaning about migration/integration experiences. The attribution of the power to participate in knowledge construction as experts to research participants can strongly stimulate a process of empowerment manifested in narratives related to their own personal experiences. Furthermore, it can lead to a more ethically driven and collaborative research process that open up new perspectives and knowledge construction legitimacies, departing from the epistemological narrowness of Knowledge Holders’ expertise (“expertism”) in the field of migration/integration studies.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: theoretical papers on PAR in migration and integration studies; empirical papers on PAR in migration and integration studies; comparisons of the use of PAR in migration and integration studies; papers on specific art-based events in migration and integration studies; papers on peer researchers in migration and integration studies.

Within the spirit of PAR and in order to accommodate the contributions of peer researchers and/or participants in art-based events in the publication/ dissemination endeavour, a special section is foreseen to accommodate contributions by peer researchers/participants in art-based events (e.g., blogs or other printable material) which will not be subject to peer review. Notwithstanding, these contributions must be linked to empirical research presented in the scientific articles that will comprise the Special Issue.  

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Birte Nienaber
Dr. Jose Oliveira
Dr. Isabelle Albert
Guest Editors

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• migrant integration
• participatory action research
• peer research
• art-based events