Activist Participatory Research Among the Maya of Guatemala

: Constructing Meanings from Situated Knowledge. Lykes, M. B. (1997). Journal of Social Issues. 53(4), 725-746.

Reflecting upon her experience in Guatemala, Lykes discusses strengths and limitations of PAR and in particular explores her "situated otherness within a praxis of solidarity". Realizing that (in)voluntary silencing was a key element that affected post-war life, she attempted to break the silence, and criticizes positivist social science methods that fails to capture the collective nature of individual experience and cultural symbolism that weave such experience. With this context, Lykes proposes activist participatory research, where relationships between researchers and participants constitutes an action. Within this model, Lykes positions herself as situated other and attempts to understand herself through an experience of shared subjectivity.

As a means of embarking on communication, Lykes utilized techniques of popular education, such as art working, dramatization, story-telling, etc. She explains that the use of creative productions as part of research served as texts for further analysis and discussion while creating multiple channels of representation and wider distribution.

As a situated other, Lykes continues to analyze her position in terms of otherness and in particular being female. She summarizes a challenge of PAR as follows:

"[T]he processes engaged toward establishing partnerships and engaging in PAR challenge our basic assumptions of who we and "the other"are. These challenges demand continuing re-visioning not only of the relationships themselves but also of our developing understanding of ourselves and the meanings we are making of the "data" we are gathering." (p.735)

Pointing out word-oriented knowledge distribution, Lykes describes the strengths of using visual images in carrying out research and distributing findings, as seen in Photovoice. She writes that such technique provided a unique tool for documenting women's concerns from their own perspectives. She adds that Photovoice complements other strategies that involves with indigenous resources and facilitates collaborations for further action and wider reaching out to the local communities. She articulates that the strength of photo is also weakness in that multiple-reading may contribute to meaning making but it may challenge participants who have been isolated and silenced for long.

Finally Lykes suggests criteria for evaluating adequate PAR: 1) the method's compatibility with other indigenous resources, 2) the easiness, 3) contribution to action, 4) representing multiple realities, 5) potential for sharing multiple indigenous practices and 6) minimization of risk to the participants.