Changing the World without Doing Harm: Critical Pedagogy, Participatory Action Research and the Insider Student Researcher

Abstract

Some parts of Canada may be moving towards an “open secularism” where matters of faith are less likely to be excluded from public discourse. In such a context, students may become more open about their own faith commitments, more willing to speak out against religious actions they disagree with, and more likely to attempt to change their own traditions. In a confessional context where students are often both leaders and researchers in their own communities it is tempting to use field research as a tool to accomplish pre-defined agendas. Using Paulo Freire’s Critical Pedagogy and its application in Participatory Action Research this paper explores how field research can be taught to activist-oriented insider student researchers in a way that contributes to social change and avoids making research only a platform for their personal agendas.