The North-South convergence : A 30-year first-person assessment of PAR

Orlando Fals Borda. (2006). Action Research 4(3), 351–358. DOI: 10.1177/1476750306066806

Fals-Borda warns the attempts of asserting a set of rules or guides applicable to all. He argued that there are so many autonomous groups. So, he argued:

[I]t is preferable for us to seek our own explanations for building an alternative paradigm, by studying our indigenous or founding regional groups and emphasizing their values of human solidarity. Some of these groups extend from one country to another without respecting present frontiers . . . . The fundamental values of the founding groups provide a strong ethos identifiable with a deep-rooted non-violent socialism that is worth salvaging to repair our deteriorating social fabric.(p. 356-357)

Within this perspective, he called for an alternative methodological paradigm pertinent to regional context:

Our methodology is now faced with the creative challenge of constructing an alternative paradigm in regional contexts, for understanding and valuing the complexities of societies,
as regards their oral links, particular characteristics, present situation and spontaneous nature. (p. 357)