Reflexivity Beyond Identity: The Premises, Promises and Problems of Participatory Research for Critical Theorizing

In the field of feminist methodology, participatory research designs are a means of choice to adequately involve affected groups of people and to conduct research as critical intervention. This article tackles this form of academic knowledge production and discusses how such positioned knowledge can be characterized more precisely in relation to participatory research designs. By discussing the epistemological premises of feminist participatory research in feminist standpoint theory, the article identifies a problem with identity-based reflexivity that it distinguishes from a reflexivity that focuses on the careful analysis of power relations. The article points out four problems participatory research designs need to confront in order not to be paternalistic and to uphold the necessary openness of every critical research process: The problem of immunization by calls for identity-based reflexivity; an insufficient capability to be irritated in the course of the research process; a danger of epistemological paternalism; and the problematic promise of “useful” research. It closes by pointing out the problems and potentials for critical theorizing informed by participatory research.