"Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a subset of action research; it is critical research guided by an emancipatory interest. Critical PAR is committed to social transformation for justice. It is a heuristic approach, which incorporates a praxis that involves social and political action. PAR is c...ommitted to recapturing and empowering the knowledges of the subaltern through appropriate political and social action informed by a praxis involving local knowledge generation, debate, reflection, and social/political action. In this chapter, we present the scholarship in PAR within the broad field of communication and development studies by tracing its evolution since the mid-20th Century. We will undertake a detailed discussion of PAR and its praxis within the empowerment paradigm in devcom studies. We will explicate the PAR methodology and praxis, outline guiding tenets for PAR, describe the roles of development communication workers in empowerment/PAR process and provide examples of participatory action research." (Abstract) more

"Only one of Freire’s (1969/1983) books directly and more broadly addresses the scope of communication; it is 'Extension or Communication?' published in 1969, originally in Spanish, during Freire’s exile in Chile. This book became an important reference for the studies and practices of participa...tory communication worldwide and was decisive for the review of diffusion models, which took communication as a tool to guide the reproduction of models considered modern and developed, without paying attention to local experiences and knowledge. Approached more broadly, the transversality of communication in Freire’s pedagogical perspective can be discussed from at least three perspectives. The first combines language, education and communication. The second links education and communication with popular mobilization and, more openly, with processes of political engagement. The third stems from Freire’s own critical positioning in relation to the media. These three inflections will be discussed in more detail throughout the material compiled in this edition of MATRIZes." (Introduction, p.5) more