ANTHR 6462 - Democratizing Research: Participation, Action, and Research

Fall. 4 credits.

Co-meets with ANTHR 3462.

D. Greenwood.

This course centers on a family of research approaches variously known as activist research, engaged research, community-based research, public scholarship, and action research. These are both alternatives to and critiques of the common forms of university-centered research that separate “expert” researchers from the subjects of research and claim that the quality of research can be determined only by trained academics. Participants in engaged research view research as a means of social learning. Most importantly, they are guided by democratic ideals and values, in pursuit of public purposes and interests. No course can cover the full range of approaches and so this course brings the different approaches to the attention of the students, shows what the strengths and weaknesses of each are, and exhibits the various strategies and methods that typify them. A subset of the students will be participating in an ongoing community service activity of their own creation. The internships/community projects will be supported and overseen by the course supervisor, a faculty board, and the director of the Cornell University Public Service Center.