Goñi, I. (2025)
What is our obsession with reports? This article for Science for the People explores how Latin American Participatory Action Research reimagines science communication as a collective, creative, and political process. Through examples like comic books, community radio, and grassroots tech fairs, it highlights how knowledge can be co-produced and mobilised from below.
What is our obsession with reports? As I work on the data strategy for a permanent Global Citizens Assembly, where citizens worldwide deliberate on global issues and plan for local action, most of our discussions about communicating results revolve around reports. Indeed, the go-to formats for translating research into political action often center around policy memos, academic publications, or short presentations to decision-makers, which prioritize formal language and institutional traceability. But the more I engage with my work, the more I wonder: Do these reports mobilize local political action and deepen participation or serve bureaucratic needs?
As a scholar from Latin America, I know there are empowering ways to communicate research just by looking at the rich participatory traditions of the Global South. In particular, Latin American Participatory Action Research (PAR) can help reimagine modern research communication in the context of large-scale participation in science and technology.
Read here:
https://magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/vol27-1-rethinking-scicomm/communicating-knowledge-otherwise/