Participatory Action Researchers Looking for a Home at ICQI: The (Re) Emergence of the (p)AR Special Interest Group

Abstract

In this article we share how we as participatory action researchers and organizers of the (p)AR Special Interest Group (SIG) came to understand our process of seeking a home at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ICQI) from 2021 to 2024. As we reflected, we became aware that we were simultaneously trying to enrich our (p)AR practice with extended epistemologies from the critical qualitative research world, while trying to nudge that world into action and active participation—even within ICQI sessions. An important aspect of our learning came from the storyboarding facilitation and live cartooning provided by Steve Kroeger, which allowed us to make sense of our experience in the moment and without having to break it into pieces. This Freirean “codification” is similar to qualitative bricolage but adds the necessary movement to action that is inherent in Freire’s praxis. Our analysis led us to create a zine/comic as an academic “paper” that we used to cocreate new knowledge through a participatory “un-symposium” and peer review process at ICQI 2024. A key insight is that finding a home is about using participatory processes to create safe and generative spaces (i.e., home) for developing meaningful relationships that (derive from and) lead to action. Additional resources, including the zines and images referenced in this article, are available at the QR code below.