I was recently turned on to a program in New York called The Public Science Project, or Participatory Action Research. It is made up of a coalition of activists, researchers, youth, elders, lawers, and educators and focuses on issues of educational injustices, mass incarceration, and lives under surveillance. They work in schools and camps and their research is designed to bring together people from all walks of life to work together.
I think that the work done at PAR blends in to the themes I am exploring in my project and I hope to look further in to what they do (fingers crossed for some sort of meeting or interview)
below is a brief mission statement
PAR believes that social science can play an important role in the struggle for social justice. PAR provides a critical framework for making science – systematic inquiry and analysis – a public enterprise. Allied with feminist, critical race, and indigenous theory, PAR is an approach to research that values the significant knowledge people hold about their lives and experiences. PAR positions those most intimately impacted by research as leaders in shaping research questions, framing interpretations, and designing meaningful research products and actions. With these commitments, The Public Science Project collaborates with academics, community organizations, schools, prisons, and public institutions to design, conduct, and support research and practice aimed at interrupting injustice.