Research, Power, and Care: Limitations to Collaborative Research with Children and Youth

Abstract

This article considers the obstacles and opportunities in collaborative action research. It focuses on two examples: a virtual participatory action research with five migrant Latina young women and a participatory action-oriented project in a middle school in Baltimore, Maryland. We argue that intentions alone are not enough to challenge the dynamics of knowledge production. Children and adult researchers continue to interact in the context of hierarchical power structures. Instead of adults “making space” for independent child subjects to participate, we suggest that pedagogies of acompañamiento and ternura, which emphasize nurturing and accompanying participants, are necessary to foster spaces of collaboration. We broaden conversations about critical research methodologies to emphasize actual processes of relationship building in the context of uneven interdependencies and care. We suggest the important role that radical educational pedagogies from Latin America played in shaping our own research approaches.