Palgrave Macmillan 2014

Gutberlet, J., Tremblay C. and C. Moraes (2014). The Community-Based Research Tradition in Latin America. In: R. Munck, L. MacIlrath, B. Hall and R. Tandon (Eds). Higher Education and Community Based Research. Palgrave Macmillan: London, UK.

Abstract: This chapter captures insights from the long tradition Latin American intellectuals and practitioners have had with participatory and action- oriented research. Rosa María Torres in Peru, Carlos Núñez Hurtado in Mexico, Orlando Fals Borda in Colombia, and Paulo Freire, Carlos Rodrigues Brandão, and Michel Thiollent in Brazil are important names, among many others, who have contributed to the creation of a postcolonial, critical epistemology and methodology in Latin America over the past 50 years. This engagement, rooted in the region, has also influenced research and community outreach in other parts of the world. The particular historical and political context in Latin America has profoundly influenced the emergence of this theoretical movement and its praxis in popular education. In the chapter, we analyze in detail the work of the scholar and educator Paulo Freire, who has strongly shaped popular education. We situate the community-based research tradition in theory and with concrete practical examples from different Latin American countries and we highlight current persistent challenges this research tradition is facing.