In Search of Revolutionary Praxis: Decolonization, Participatory Action Research, and the Politics of Radical Commitment

Abstract

In a world where leftist scholars publish thousands of articles every year about decolonization yet simultaneously fascism rises evermore quickly, this article attempts to wrestle radical scholars from their political inactivity. While this piece takes a critical look at PAR’s potential to promote an anti-colonial approach to research and action, I argue that such work requires a larger political framework linked to class struggle and anti-fascism. One area to develop a more integrated, radical PAR method is to address the need for professional researchers to develop a stronger class consciousness of their own. While PAR practitioners have long pointed out the necessity to decenter the power and privilege of university institutions and professional trappings, little attention has been paid to the class nature of these connections and the corporate and colonial forces at work that depoliticize the more radical possibilities of critical PAR. I propose that PAR researchers reflect on their own class consciousness as part of developing the radical relationships and solidarity necessary to do revolutionary work. As possible models for such efforts I raise the work of 20th Century revolutionaries such as Amilcar Cabral, Frantz Fanon, and Che Guevara who all incorporated anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism with the need for popular education, research and praxis as part of their revolutionary movements.