Book Review: Traveling Companions: Feminism, Teaching, and Action Research
Traveling Companions explores the traditions by which diverse groups of feminist and participatory action researchers (PAR) experience, create meaning, and adapt to the unique challenges of engaging in collaborative processes of reflection, action, and change. Although the editors have published other books relating feminism to participatory research, the method in which this book was written is novel. In the true spirit of the social justice aims of action research, the book explores the roles of feminism and PAR in with the international perspective from which it arose. It is literally a collaborative effort among several authors, respecting and identifying the different perspectives, power roles, and privileges from a worldview perspective. The authors acknowledge that although feminists are collectively moving in the same direction, feminist cohorts and issues change; feminism can also be radically different in other parts of the world, where some women purposely resist Westernized feminism.
Traveling Companions has two divergent yet interrelated and intertwining objectives. First, it creates a space for a diverse group of educators, researchers, practitioners, and scholars to wrestle with the diverse and complex issues that are threaded throughout feminist and action research. Second, it seeks to examine how action research and feminist research can complement each other in developing strategies for engaging in collaborative research that is rooted in activism and social change. In three powerful sections, participatory action research is continually redefined through the eyes and objectives of its international participants, much like the iterative process of action research itself.
Although PAR and feminist PAR have commonly been divided into separate journeys traveled by separate voices, rarely acknowledging one another as collaborators, this collection purposely focuses on, and attempts to tackle, their shared issues:
* How does a researcher negotiate the power imbalance between the researcher and researched?
* How can researchers bridge the schism between the "inside"/academy and "outside"/community?
* How do issues of insider/outsider or us/them affect collaborations and outcomes in PAR, and how can we successfully constructing me/you/we collaborations?
By describing the merits of action research, the contributing authors repeatedly argue that PAR is the perfect research methodology in which a person can make a commitment to a feminist-informed activist-oriented research. The contributors' collective journey achieves this through their own commitment to the idea that activist research reaches from a person's own and necessarily divergent experiences, but can be transformed by the very forms of power that shape them.
The raw feminist research perspectives of the international community are as informative as they are captivating. The raw candor and openness of this book is refreshing. The contributors use self-reflection and examination through personal narrative to illustrate one of the main challenges that face participatory action researchers: we must somehow put aside differences of power and privilege that exist within our community settings. In an exercise of subjectivity, the traveling companions use their own personal experiences as examples, beautifully interweaving their stories with the stories of others. One narrator's goals of representing a collective experience and of resisting oppression is through Testimonio, as an indigenous literary genre. Another chapter discusses why Muslim women tend to resist traditional western feminism and PAR, preferring the route of Taqwa for collective action. Brydon-Miller honestly, and powerfully, discusses her status as a privileged, White academician by utilizing personal narrative. Why would anyone want to hear another story from someone who is part of the dominant cultural narrative? According to Brydon-Miller, she is acting as an exemplar for helping others to critically examine their own uses and abuses of power and privilege so that we can interact within our communities, classrooms, and research sites in a more engaging way.
Traveling Companions is an essential resource for scholars and professionals engaged in social and political inquiry, organizational research and education. Although it was specifically designed for action-based feminist-inspired research aimed at eradicating social injustices, it is non-threatening and enlightening even for those with no formal experience or training in feminist theory. It may be particularly helpful for those in graduate school for teacher's education, who may be just encountering feminist theory. For men, or those unfamiliar with feminist theory, it is a perfect introduction for those who want to learn about the grassroots, as well as the formalized, relationships between feminism and action research. Similarly, this book is engaging even for those who may have little or no knowledge of action research. Although the introduction may lead one to believe that the book was written for more experienced educators involved in action-oriented feminist PAR, several chapters specifically discuss the struggles and learning processes of both undergraduate and graduate students. In her chapter entitled Reclaiming the F-word', Patricia Maguire specifically targets those being introduced to feminist theory in teacher education, as well as more experienced researchers who are searching for methods of integrating these issues successfully into their curriculum. Traveling Companions is especially for anyone who would like to learn how feminism might inform their action research projects.
Through the compilation of stories presented in this book, the contributors aimed to influence feminist scholarship to be more participatory and action-oriented, and PAR to be more informed by feminist theories and values. The authors do not provide a specific framework for solving the difficult research challenges faced by feminist participatory action researchers, however, this was not their stated intent. Because the contributing authors are tackling different views of the same subject, the book may seem repetitive at times. However, this repetition may also be informative depending on the reader's previous experiences with the particular topics; many who are new to the field of participatory action research may find the agreement of the goals of participatory action research between the diversity of contributors refreshing in its confirmation. That the book focuses predominantly on PAR as a method of research may be inclusionary to those readers who are immersed in many types of action research. These criticisms, however, are minor in comparisons to the magnitude of informative power provided by the inspirational voices in the text.
The ultimate strengths of Traveling Companion exist in its commitment to the presentation of the diversity of voices of the oppressed, and to a commitment to action. The authors acknowledge the depth and knowledge that the multiple identities of researchers and participants add to PAR, and how they are informed by race, gender, and social class, and our own personal identities. Not only is this book an excellent resource for teachers, but the reader is continually challenged throughout to rethink his or her positions of power or privilege; by facilitating this understanding, the authors are able to successfully support their somewhat controversial notion that feminist research, PAR, and "the university" can share a similar space.
The burgeoning field of action research desperately needed to unite the diverse perspectives unique to the intersection of feminist research and PAR, and Traveling Companions meets this challenge well. The collaborating authors should be applauded for moving the field forward with this collective blend of fresh insights and practical applications. Perhaps this exciting and well-informed book will inspire others to do the same in their own genres.