Morse, Richard

Participatory Self-Review by community action groups and participatory organisations has evolved in the past two decades as a central process in participatory research and action. The objectives of self-review are to encourage learning through self-reflection, to share and adapt the lessons of community groups, and to guide policy reform in support of locally based development efforts. While participatory self-review as a process was not explicitly identified by John Dewey, the premise of this article is that its seeds and roots can be found in his life and work.

Grassroots activists and researchers build here on their varied personal experiences to clarify and strengthen the effectiveness of participatory group action in overcoming impoverishment, oppression and exclusion. The authors focus on core issues of social and political organisation and change, such as: relations between self and other; group identity and solidarity; honouring different types of knowledge systems; and organising against vested positions and unjust power structure.