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Reflective Essays

Vol. 29 No. 4

Embodying PAR: A Reflection on Building Trust Across Institutional Hierarchies

  • Anita Chikkatur
  • Emily Oliver
Submitted
March 21, 2024
Published
2025-12-18

Abstract

In this cowritten reflection, two co–principal investigators of a federally funded participatory action research (PAR) project that involved a university–community collaboration discuss how they built a relationship of trust through a deep shared belief in PAR ethics and ethos and through what they learned together from their collaboration with community researchers about the importance of building relationships and solidarity across differences. They argue that building ethical, reciprocal relationships between faculty and staff within universities, especially in the context of collaborations with communities outside the university, is a worthwhile and necessary component of living out the ethics of a participatory framework.