The Agroecology, Climate Resilience, and Food Justice Lab (ACRAF) is a learning lab and a collaborative space for students, faculty, advocates, and partners. With the exception of some of the work in Nicaragua, nearly all of this work is done in close collaboration with the Environmental Justice and Common Good Initiative often as part of the Food and Climate Food Justice Program. This space uses participatory action research as a guiding approach to form empowered partnerships with a range of community-based groups, farmers, government agencies and others. We use political ecology to explain the dynamics of environmental change across scales, and agroecology as a transdisciplinary participatory approach to assess the obstacles and opportunities for livelihood resilience and food system transformations in the context of climate change, market shifts, and other hazards. We are especially interested in mentorships, intercultural collaboration, food and water security, environmental justice, food sovereignty and linking personal and collective change.
How We Work: Participatory Action Research
In line with the principles of community-based research and agroecology, ACRAF commits to a collaborative research with community partners, upholding ethical conduct of research, and disseminating in a way that is broad and accessible.
- Principles of collaborative research development. From the earliest stages, there should be a process of dialogue and between the researchers and community partners in the research process.
- Principles of ethical processes. Researchers must be open about their goals and justify their actions to community partners. It is essential to maintain a commitment to long-term and relationship building and shared analysis.
- Principles of resourcing. Researchers should remunerate partners for their time and expertise and provide valuable work to them that generates equity.
- Principles involving data. Writing and interpretation should be done collaboratively with community partners and dissemination should be broad and beyond academic circles.
- Work on institutions. Researchers commit to using positions within academic institutions to action research and invite others in positions of privilege to engender this systemic change in research as a whole.
To learn more about specific principles and research steps, visit the website of our collaborators at the Agroecology Research-Action Collective.