Exploring and Implementing Participatory Action Research

This paper explores the research method of participatory action research, first by examining the roots of this approach and then analysing the shift to using more participatory approaches than in former years. It begins by considering the reasoning and theoretical underpinning for adopting this approach and provides an overview of the steps to be undertaken when implementing participatory action research. The latter section of the paper presents an example and suggests how participatory action research might have been used instead for a study that utilized open-ended questionnaires undertaken in geography. Finally, tips on how to use it are proposed along with a consideration of the challenges and opportunities.     

Foundation Degrees in Geography and Tourism: A Critical Reflection on Student Experiences and the Implications for Undergraduate Degree Courses

Over the last decade, some UK Geography Departments have diversified their range of courses to offer Foundation degrees (Fds), providing students with alternative routes through higher education (HE). These courses are delivered either offsite at further education colleges (FECs), embedded within an undergraduate programme at higher education institutions (HEIs), or by work-based learning. These pathways present students, staff and institutions with new opportunities, issues and challenges. This study examines contrasting pathways of offsite and onsite Fds in Tourism Management and Development Geography offered by two HEIs and two FECs in southwest England. The needs and experiences of Fd students are varied, related to the individual's personal and academic background, the course pathway taken, institution-specific issues and the degree of support and preparedness for HE. The contrasting academic cultures, teaching methods and assessments encountered in FECs and HEIs, and the availability of resources, raise generic and specific issues, such as confidence building and learning to become independent and autonomous learners, which challenge Geography and Tourism students during their academic careers. This study concludes that closer collaboration between the HEI and the partner FEC is necessary for Geography and Tourism courses, and highlights the need for better alignment and reinforcement of HE systems in FECs, for instance through fieldwork, and the offering effective induction and support in study skills. Finally, it is important to facilitate the smooth transitions of students ‘topping-up’ to Year 3 of an Honours degree at the parent HEI. Managers of undergraduate courses in Geography and associated subjects can also learn from the vocational and contextualized learning promoted by Fd courses and direct entry students to undergraduate courses.     

A trip to the library: homelessness and social inclusion

This article explores homeless men's visits to a public library. It shows how homeless men identified the library as a space for safety and social participation, at a time when the regional newspaper published an item questioning the appropriateness of their presence in the library. The news report promotes universal narratives that would exclude homeless people, showing the intimate relationship between the symbolic space of news, the material space of the local library, and the lifeworlds of homeless men. We report fieldwork in which we interviewed homeless men, library staff and patrons. In addition, we worked with journalists on follow-up articles foregrounding the positive function of the library in homeless men's lives, and to challenge existing news narratives that advocate the exclusion of ‘the homeless’ from prime public spaces.     

从无序到有序：群体性事件与公民政治参与问题研究

近年来,作为无序政治参与表现的群体性事件在我国呈现出频发的趋势,要求我们不断思考公民有序政治参与的制度创新及其有效性问题。文章对群体性事件中公民无序政治参与的基本形式、产生原因进行了客观的分析,从坚持基本原则、健全制度建设、培育公民社会及提升公民能力素质四个方面探讨了促进公民无序政治参与向有序政治参与转变的可行性路径。     

Business associations and the politics of contained participation in Vietnam

The development of the private sector in Vietnam since the mid-1990s has accompanied the emergence of organised business interests, which is recognised as vital to pursuing the agenda of economic modernisation. This article aims to explore the significance of the interactions between the state and business associations representing small-and-medium enterprises. It demonstrates that business associations have transformed state–business relations in a way that is distinguishable from state corporatism or societal pluralism. The analysis examines the interplay between state actors and emerging non-state entities, and the deliberative capacity of intermediary organisations in the policy-making process, specifically through the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises. It is argued that this process constitutes a new mode of political participation that reflects the entanglement of the state and private capital interests. It reveals features of contained participation and contributes to the research agenda on deliberative and governance practices in post-socialist transitional economies.

越南私有部门自1990年代中期以来的发展,伴随着管理有组织商业利益的立法的出台。而有组织的商业利益被视为实现经济现代化的关键。本文探讨了国家与商业协会在为中小企业打造适宜市场环境方面所进行的互动。商业协会成为具有战略意义的政治主体,以一种不同于国家统合主义或社会多元主义的方式改写了政府和商业的关系。本文探讨了国家主体与新兴非国家实体之间的相互作用,并评价了中间组织——尤其像越南中小企业协会——在政策制定过程中的协商能力。作者认为,该过程造成了一种新的政治参与方式,反映了国家和私人资本利益之间的纠结。它还揭示了其中所包含的参与的诸特点,并对于研究后社会主义转型经济体中出现的协商及治理实践,或能起到抛砖引玉的作用。     

‘Cooler than a trip to Alton Towers’: Assessing the Impact of the Higher Education Field Academy, 2005–13

The Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA) is a University of Cambridge ‘Widening Participation’ programme designed to raise educational aspirations, enthusiasm, and attainment amongst teenagers through participation in archaeological excavation. Setting up, running, recording, and writing up a 1 m² excavation which contributes to university research is structured into a varied and challenging scheme of assessed work in which learners develop and refine a range of skills — cognitive, technical, social, and personal — vital to success in education and the workplace. A total of 3496 young people took part in HEFA between 2005 and 2013, and central to its success are characteristics unique to archaeology: an interdisciplinary subject in which novices can make discoveries for themselves which are genuinely both new and important. At a time of financial retrenchment when funding for heritage is being severely cut, HEFA demonstrates the capacity of archaeology to build social capital by broadening access to higher education and helping young people gain the qualifications they need to contribute most to society in the future. This paper assesses the origins, aims, structure, and impact of the HEFA programme 2005–13, focusing in particular on the ‘Aimhigher years’ from 2005–11.     

Urban Community Gardens as Spaces of Citizenship

A growing body of literature conceptualizes urban agriculture and community gardens as spaces of democratic citizenship and radical political practice. Urban community gardens are lauded as spaces through which residents can alleviate food insecurity and claim rights to the city. However, discussions of citizenship practice more broadly challenge the notion that citizen participation is inherently transformative or empowering, particularly in the context of neoliberal economic restructuring. This paper investigates urban community gardens as spaces of citizenship through a case study of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It examines the impacts of community gardens on citizenship practice and the effects of volunteerism on the development of community gardens. It explores how grassroots community gardens simultaneously contest and reinforce local neoliberal policies. This research contributes empirically and theoretically to scholarship on urban food movements, neoliberal urbanization, collaborative governance, and citizenship practice.     

少数民族政治参与及其保障机制的若干问题——以青海等省区藏族聚居区为例

政治参与既是推进民主政治建设的一个尺度,也是维护社会政治稳定的重要保障。对于民族地区的政治参与,既要大力推进,充分发挥其积极作用,又要加强引导和规范,使其步入制度化和有序化的健康轨道。本文以青海等省区藏族聚居区为例,就此展开调查研究,具体从政治参与的历史发展、存在问题及其成因、对策思路和保障机制等层面,对少数民族政治参与问题作一分析。     

Cool,funky and creative? The creative class and preferences for leisure and culture

It is a core element in Richard Florida’s popular theory on growth to be able to attract the creative class to a geographical area. But Florida is not very specific on which kind of amenities are important for attracting and keeping the creative class. The purpose of this paper is to analyse which kind of cultural activities the creative class is actually using. Which kind of cultural activities does the creative class use more intensively than other groups in society? This paper presents new empirical results on preferences for leisure and culture. Richard Florida’s theory can be, and has been, criticised – especially on the issue of causality. The analyses presented in this paper show that being part of the creative class has an independent and significant role in explaining preferences for leisure and culture.