Participatory Action Research in Education: Benefits and Tensions Across Contexts

This special section examines the enactment of participatory action research (PAR) across three distinct educational contexts: a public library program for teens, an after-school program in Japan, and a prison-based adult language and literacy program. This introduction provides an overview of the principles associated with PAR and outlines potential tensions and challenges associated with partnering with the community as co-researchers. Building on the interest in anthropology to challenge traditional research approaches, these studies emphasize how PAR can provide opportunities to positively impact the communities that are the focus of the research, including how PAR impacts those community members who become co-researchers. Additionally, these three studies critically examine the challenges and tensions introduced through PAR, challenging romanticized notions of PAR with the reality of the demands that participating in research placed on community members.