Involving British-Chinese Immigrants in Participatory Action Research: Lessons Learnt from the Field

Abstract

British-Chinese communities in the United Kingdom have experienced an increase in discriminatory behaviour with other communities due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the stigmatisation it has brought about as a result of the speculated COVID-19 origins. Therefore, as a pilot study, this paper investigates how Participatory Action Research (PAR), principally the integration of interactive technology with co-design activities, can be applied to support the producing and sharing of community-based immigrant heritage for British-Chinese citizens. In addition, the reasoning behind why British-Chinese communities have faced cross-cultural barriers when sharing their values and significance of their heritage more widely within British society during the COVID-19 pandemic has also been explored. This study potentially makes a significant contribution to the literature because design-led inquiry was used to explore design strategies and considerations of interactive technology that improved the participation of British-Chinese immigrants in sharing the significance of their intangible heritage socially, equally, and coherently during the COVID-19 pandemic.