Reimagining Community and Knowledge: Emerging Directions in Participatory Research

There is a global resurgence in the field of participatory research and community engagement. The world health system crisis post pandemic, geo-political inequalities, social exclusion and ecological degradation expose the limits of development and the dominant positivist paradigm of research which captures the social world as ‘fact’ intact. Traditional top-down research known for upward accountability to donors and institutions of power, seldom take stance and support downward and lateral accountability (towards participants/ community and the researchers). There is a growing recognition of the need for approaches which focuses on participants lived experiences, share power and build research with rather than on communities. In the emerging context, learning institutions, social justice philanthropists, and grassroots community organisations are increasing calling for models of inquiry that are not only methodologically rigorous but also socially just and locally rooted. This special edition on “Participatory Research and Community Engagement” captures this pivotal moment in the evolution of research practice. The papers presented here reflect a cross-section of the dynamic efforts to respond to the complex glocal social issues through inclusive, contextually grounded, and collaborative approaches. Together, they represent a shift- as Thomas Kuhn puts it from extractive model of knowledge production and ‘development-by-accumulation’ view of science to those that prioritises co-creation, accountability and relational ethics.