Citation

Langan D, Morton M. Action Res. 2009; 7(2): 165-184.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1476750309103261

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article articulates many of the issues that feminist participatory action researchers confront in attempts to conduct collaborative research with community organizations and the state (see Brydon-Miller, McGuire, & McIntyre, 2004; Gatenby & Humphries, 2000; Reid, Tom, & Frisby, 2006; Sullivan, Bhuyan, Senturia, Shiu-Thornton, & Ciske, 2005). As recent PhD sociologists, the authors were hired as independent consultants by a provincial ministry 1 to evaluate an initiative to expand service provision to women who had experienced violence by their intimate partners.2 Our analysis of what transpired during this consultancy experience is grounded in our participant observation and a reflective process in which we have engaged, periodically, over the past 10 years. During that time we have articulated, and re-articulated our 'story', both informally and formally, through solitary and collaborative writing and rewriting endeavors. Our immersion in this process has yielded ever-evolving understandings of this life experience, and the passage of time has allowed us to refine an analysis because of the distance in time between now and our involvement. We begin by outlining our understanding of feminist participatory action research (FPAR) that informed our work with the ministry, followed by our story of what happened and our sociological analysis of that story.