Ethical and Political Challenges of Participatory Action Research in the Academy: Reflections on Social Movements and Knowledge Production in South Africa

From the vantage point of South Africa, this article highlights a number of ethical challenges that could potentially arise in the relationship between social movement researchers and activists in the pursuit of social justice and transformation. In contrast to conventional approaches to social science more generally, we argue that a neat separation between theory and action is useful neither for producing knowledge within the academy nor for advancing the causes of social movements. The article reflects on two different research experiences in order to explain the limitations and quandaries that confront academics who seek to negotiate scholar-activist identities. In doing so, it extends the work of Croteau, who has explored the tensions between activism and scholarship. Drawing on participatory action research (PAR) approaches, including Touraine's method of sociological intervention, we suggest that a refined approach to PAR may assist in countering the inequalities that have been created in the academy between the researcher and researched, thereby alleviating some of the ethical and political concerns that inevitably confront scholar-activists.