In this episode, we host action researcher Dr. Davydd Greenwood. During his 40-year history of action research in Spain, Norway, and New York, he explored issues as diverse as rural exodus, ethnic conflict, industrial cooperatives, participatory community development, and the role of governmental institutions in shaping and exacerbating identity politics and conflicts. He also examined the links between action research and feminisms, specifically how feminism opened new spaces for AR in universities. Dr. Greenwood is the Goldwin Smith Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Anthropology at Cornell University, where he taught for 44 years. At Cornell, he had many positions, including Director of the Einaudi Center for International Studies and Director of the Institute for European Studies. He co-founded the Cornell Participatory Action Research Network (CPARN) which is the main focus of this episode. 

The conversation opens up discussing Dr. Greenwood’s early work with Mondragon Cooperatives and the Spanish Basque community and how this shaped him as an action researcher (2:22). Topics of discussion include his early learnings from doing action research and how those insights informed his career in AR (7:40); how feminism is linked to PAR (10:58);  masculinity and critical reflexivity (16:34); the journey of CPARN and AR in democratizing research and universities (20:35); feminism and PAR (23:44); how FEM PAR influenced CPARN (26:10); how CPARN dissolved (27:10); and the upcoming third edition of the Introduction to Action Research (29:33). The conversation wraps up discussing listening and dialoguing in research (41:48).

Learn more about our guests and their work at our companion site https://www.parfemtrailblazers.net/  This episode is hosted by Patricia Maguire and produced by Vanessa Gold and Shikha Diwakar. Music is by ZakharValaha from Pixabay.