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Process, Perception and Power: Notes from ‘Participatory’ Research in a Zimbabwean Resettlement Area

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  • Allison Goebel

Abstract

The increased popularity of ‘participatory’ methods in research, development projects, and rural extension in developing countries, has not consistently been accompanied by a critical evaluation of the quality and reliability of knowledge created and extracted in the process. In this article, the author employs her own research using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in a Zimbabwean Resettlement Area, to examine how knowledge is created through this type of research act, and how later research may be used to turn back and ‘make sense’ of PRA data. The article explores how power relations among participants are both revealed and concealed in PRA, focusing specifically on the implications for gendered perspectives. The paper also highlights the dynamic, contested and often contradictory nature of ‘local knowledge’ itself. Apparently transparent chunks of ‘local reality’ gleaned through PRA can turn out to be part of complex webs of multiple ideologies and practices. The author argues that while participatory methodologies may offer effective ways of beginning a research project, adoption of short PRA workshops in academic or project related research could lead to dangerously faulty representations of complex social worlds.

Suggested Citation

  • Allison Goebel, 1998. "Process, Perception and Power: Notes from ‘Participatory’ Research in a Zimbabwean Resettlement Area," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 29(2), pages 277-305, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:29:y:1998:i:2:p:277-305
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-7660.00079
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    Cited by:

    1. David Simon, 2003. "Dilemmas of development and the environment in a globalizing world: theory, policy and praxis," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 3(1), pages 5-41, January.
    2. Mark Purdon, 2010. "The clean development mechanism and community forests in Sub-Saharan Africa: reconsidering Kyoto’s “moral position” on biocarbon sinks in the carbon market," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 12(6), pages 1025-1050, December.
    3. S. J. Vermeulen & B. M. Campbell & J. J. Mangono, 2000. "Shifting Patterns of Fuel and Wood Use by Households in Rural Zimbabwe," Energy & Environment, , vol. 11(3), pages 233-254, May.
    4. Eleanor Sanderson & Sara Kindon, 2004. "Progress in participatory development: opening up the possibility of knowledge through progressive participation," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 4(2), pages 114-126, April.

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