Graduate Education Grounded in Community-Based Participatory Research

Abstract

Research projects at the University of Arizona's Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology (BARA) have provided graduate students an opportunity to engage in anthropological inquiry and application, often in teams, and with guidance from experienced researchers. In this paper, we focus on our experiences as graduate students working on two community-based environmental anthropology research projects in the sister cities of Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Arizona (known collectively as Ambos Nogales). In choosing to participate in these projects, we hoped to develop our skills with specific anthropological research methods (interviews, participant-observation, surveys, focus groups, and the writing of field notes), gain experience with a community-based participatory research (CBPR) model (including strategies for prioritizing community decision-making and incorporating local knowledge and interests throughout the research process), improve our Spanish skills, and learn to integrate research and action in a mutually-enriching way. Of course, having a job that reduced the cost of school was beneficial, but our main goal was to become anthropologists capable of contributing to academic, policy, and community-based action.

Confronting Environmental Challenges on the US–Mexico Border: Long-Term Community-Based Research and Community Service Learning in a Binational Partnership

“…"There is little empirical evidence that service learning provides substantive, meaningful, and long-term solutions for the communities it is supposedly helping" (Butin, 2003(Butin, , p. 1682, and "the breadth and depth of the positive impact of service learning upon a community is absent from the research focus" (Butin, 2003(Butin, , p. 1685. Students must have the capacity to be effective (Pearson, 2002) and must sufficiently prepared to undertake community work (Sheehan, Burke, & Slack, 2007;Slack, Gaines, & Brocious, 2007;Willis, Peresie, Waldref, & Stockmann, 2003). Faculty face challenges developing and teaching courses with a meaningful CSL or CBR component and struggle to maintain commitment to a community past the end of the semester and to meet deadlines that fill in the middle of the semester (Stocking & Cutforth, 2006;Stoecker, 2002).…”

“…The students demonstrate through class and small group discussions and their presentations at meetings and community forums that they have learned about community issues, how to think critically, and how to design and apply interventions to impact specific problems, both the identified environmental issues and also the social problems that arise when diverse groups of people must work together (Díaz et al, 2007). In interviews conducted during project evaluations, both faculty members and students from Arizona and Sonora have articulated challenges and benefits of participating in the projects; these range from too much or too little community participation, to finding time to devote to the projects, to establishing their roles within the partnership (see also Burke, McMahan, & Owen 2008;Sheehan et al, 2007;Slack et al, 2007). Some students have acknowledged that they became involved in projects only to fulfill graduation requirements for specific courses or social service hours, yet others have noted that they chose to participate in the projects.…”

Studying Time Banking: Exploring Participatory Action Research in Aotearoa New Zealand

“…The literature reviewed in the final section of this paper has helped me to reflect on and navigate this tension. conducting par as a postgraduatE studEnt These key texts include first-person accounts of the challenges and rewards inherent in the process of conducting a par projects as a doctoral student (maguire, 1993;Hanrahan, 2002;Burgess, 2006;Sheehan et al, 2007). Other treasured finds from the literature include advice from seasoned par academics written specifically for postgraduate students who are conducting par projects (dick, 2002;Herr & anderson, 2005).…”

“…For examples see Stronach (2002), Sheehan, Burke and Slack (2007), Lopes (2009), Sykes and treleaven (2009), Beech, Hibbert, macintosh, and mcinnes (2009: 196-8), and Johnston (2010). There is also a conversation that extends across two research articles between educational anthropologists making a foray into the world of action Research (Barab, Thomas, dodge, Squire & newell, 2004), and a review of their methods by Peter Reason, a leading action researcher, theorist and writer (Reason, 2004 Since the first wave of research projects began in the 1990s in new Zealand that specifically adopted the terms action Research or Participatory action Research (Cardno & Piggot-irvine, 1996;kock, mcQueen & Scott, 1997;Hill & Capper, 1999), these research frameworks have been interwoven with the existing methods of many academic fields.…”

A San Francisco Bay Area CBPR Training Institute

“…With the rapid growth of community-based participatory research (CBPR), there has been an evolving recognition of the importance of preparation and training in CBPR principles and strategies. Graduate-level CBPR training is available at a growing number of institutions (Citrin, 2001; Masuda, Creighton, Nixon, & Frankish, 2011; Sheehan, Burke, & Slack, 2007). Wider availability of training, however, has been sorely lacking, especially for community members most affected by health and social problems, or for community–academic partner teams working in these underserved communities (Israel et al, 2006).…”