dc.description |
This paper is based on a Gender Equity Project whose one of the objectives was to
increase research and outreach activities on gender issues in western Kenya. This
was a university project managed under the leadership of the contact author. Phase
one of the project took place between 2007 and 2011, whereas phase two was
implemented from 2012 to 2016. At the conceptual stage, the objective that focused
on increasing research and outreach activities was informed by participatory action
research traditions, some of which are articulated in a variety of ways by researches
such as one by Carson and Sumara (1997), Khamasi (2001), Ahlberg, Maina, Kubai,
Khamasi, and Persson (2015), Borg, Karlsson, Hesook, and McCormack (2012),
Khamasi, Nicol, Mayer, and Nashon (2019), and Ross (2017). These researchers
agree that participatory action research is a form of collective action inquiry that
focuses on action and practice. In addition, Carson and Sumara (1997) describe
action research as a “lived practice” that requires the researcher to investigate and
also report ways in which the research “shapes and is shaped by the investigator” (p.
xiii). Carson and Sumara (1997) associate action research with critical ecological
thinking which they argue guides researchers to dwell on questions of ethics and
seek ways of uncovering, interrupting, and interpreting the inequities within society
and consequently facilitate social change. In their words, “action research is an
endeavor to better understand the complexity of the human condition” (p. xxi). In
this regard, an action research process has to be intentionally designed and systematically implemented (Brennan & Noffke, 1997; Borg et al., 2012; Karei & Khamasi,
2014; Khamasi et al., 2019); and it often transforms to a personal political activity
(Brennan & Noffke, 1997; Borg et al., 2012; Ross, 2017) and therefore embraces the
spirit of a social justice project. To echo the words of Kurt Lewin, one of the
founders of action research tradition, “there could be no research without action,
and no action without research” (cited in Carson & Sumara, 1997, p. xviii). This idea
is also expressed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe as follows: “knowing is not
enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do” (in Brownson, Eyler,
Harris, Moore, & Tabak, 2018, p. 102). In this regard, the uniqueness of this paper is
the use of a participatory engagement and outreach as a research dissemination
method. |
en_US |
dc.description.abstract |
This paper discusses ways of dealing with narratives containing sensitive information shared by primary and secondary school students through a research process. The study was informed by participatory action research traditions and was part of a Gender Equity Project that took place in two phases from 2007 to 2016. Guided by Nell Nodding’s care theory, narratives shared by the students were analyzed using the collaborative content analysis process (CCAP). Most of the stories spoke of domestic violence, incest, neglect by parents, child labor, and abuse of orphans by guardians. Reading and analyzing the essays was a painful experience because most of those expected to care and love the children were reportedly abusive. After reflecting on the narratives, participatory engagement and outreach were used as the method for communicating to stakeholders the children’s concerns, hence as a method for breaking the silence. |
en_US |