Collaborating for Change: A Participatory Action Research Casebook

Across the U.S. immigrants, laborers, domestic workers, low-income tenants, indigenous communities, and people experiencing homelessness are conducting research to fight for justice. Collaborating for Change: A Participatory Action Research Casebook documents the stories of a dozen community-based research projects.  Academics and their partners share authorship about the importance of gathering credible evidence, both for organizing and persuading.  The emphasis is on community organizations involved in struggles for equality and justice.  Research projects directly engage community partners in all phases of the research process.  Finally, the stories capture how the research changes the roles of researchers and those being researched.  The book is designed for students, but also for community organizers, social justice activists, and their research allies; it offers real stories and real projects that show how democratizing research supports social change and heightens our understanding of complex social issues.
 

Susan Greenbaum is a retired professor of anthropology and member of the Sociological Initiatives board. She is the author of More than Black: Afro-Cubans in Tampa and Blaming the Poor:The Long Shadow of the Moynihan Report on Cruel Images about Poverty (Rutgers University Press). She lives in Tampa, Florida.
 
Glenn Jacobs is a retired professor of sociology. He is the author of Charles Horton Cooley: Imagining Social Reality. He is a founding member and president of the Sociological Initiatives Foundation. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
 
Prentice Zinn is a director of GMA Foundations, a philanthropic services organization based in Boston, Massachusetts.