Participatory action research and the construction of academic identity among postgraduate research students
Abstract
This paper discusses the construction of academic identity among postgraduate research
students who emerged from a participatory action research (PAR) project. The article
reports on how postgraduate research students constructed their academic identity
deliberately, as they pursue their studies in a sustainable learning environment (SuLE)
project. The aim is to contribute towards an understanding of the impact PAR has on
research work of postgraduate students in the Faculty of Education, at the University of
the Free State, in South Africa. This paper draws on the work of Yosso’s community
cultural wealth to amplify how a relatively unexplored methodology in postgraduate
research studies can change and contribute towards the social justice agenda, and give
hope to an unequal society ruptured by apartheid. A critical emancipatory research theory
of the Frankfurt school was used as the focal lens through which the literature was
reviewed, together with a participatory action research process to generate data. Free
attitude interviews were applied to focus groups, workshops, and meetings of Master’s
and doctoral research students, as well as individual supervisory dialogues, so as to ensure
the in-depth views of the construction of students’ academic identity. Video-tapes as an
instrument in the generation of the data, which was transcribed into text and further
analysed in line with the objectives of the study were used. Finally, a Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA) technique was used to arrive at the following findings: (i) ingenious
commitment to social justice; (ii) genuine commitment to serve communities; and (iii)
inter-centricity of humanity in relations.