TROUBLEMAKERS2 Apr 2025

Ep25: Participatory Action Research with Abel Sibanda

In this episode of Troublemakers, we dive into Participatory Action Research (PAR) with Abel Sibanda, exploring how research needn't be divorced from reality but can actually foster social transformation and systems change, especially when it's not separated from our complex realities and the actions of our movements. We discuss the nuances of solidarity when carrying out research together with social movements, and the many perils of academic extraction, including gatekeeping. We explore the idea of non-academics as researchers and knowledge-producers.

We also touch on the knowledge commons, looking at creative ways people are reclaiming access to information—liberated archives, inclusive attribution, or unconventional repurposed platforms like the famous cooperative sandbox game Minecraft where gamers have built a library that provides universal access to banned books.

We also interrogate the relationship between research and AI, AI as mass plagiarism, and the blind spots of AI with the assumption that communities hold and code knowledges that big tech fails to absorb.

Participatory action research is one of the many tools in the Beautiful Trouble toolbox.

Anyone can use this podcast for free, with attribution to Trouble Makers (the podcast). It is held under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License and can be used for radio or any other media.

Our podcast is inspired by the Beautiful Trouble toolbox.

Resources & Links:

Minecraft’s banned book libraries.

Directory of Open Access Journals

Open-access knowledge repositories.

Our episode with Dalit knowledge-producer polymath Sarita Pariyar.

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