UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

This course provides graduate students with an introduction to the history, theory, epistemology, and methods of community-based and participatory research for social justice. Attention will be paid to the processes of building equitable partnerships with community members and to the ethics, power dynamics and rigor of action research. This course will model and give students experience with core elements and principles of participatory research, including participation, reflection, co-learning, learning by doing, relationship-building and collaboration. The course features practical application in conducting this type of action research. Students will work in partnership with a community organization to conduct a project that supports the racial equity and social justice goals of the organization. Using apprenticeship-style and group-based learning, students will work as a team to develop and conduct the project together, guided and supported by the instructor. Reflecting upon the experience of conducting participatory research, students will deepen their understanding of community engaged scholarship, foster the skills and orientations necessary to practice it, and consider the role it will play in their research and professional career as well as their lives as members of diverse communities.