Our PARFEM team invites you to the last episode of Season Two. This 10th episode marks the end of a chapter for this podcast, as we are not only wrapping up Season 2, but also bidding farewell to our very own Patricia Maguire, as her journey with us comes to a fork in the road. Our production team, Vanessa and Shikha, interview Patricia Maguire and are co-hosts for this episode.

Patricia is a long-time advocate of feminist-informed participatory and action research. Since publishing the groundbreaking book, Doing participatory research: A feminist approach (1987), she has worked with others, or in her words, accomplices across the world. Now retired, Patricia is Professor Emeritus of Education and Counseling, Western New Mexico University Gallup Graduate Studies Center (GGSC), where she was Chair for twenty-five years. Located in Gallup, New Mexico, a border town to the Navajo Nation and Zuni Pueblo, the GGSC team served one of the most culturally rich, linguistically diverse, yet economically poorest communities in the USA. Understanding that meaningful education happens best in the context of respectful, caring, and mutual relationships, she worked collaboratively to develop and offer transformative, accessible, and cutting-edge graduate education programs. With colleagues and students, she endeavored to build a sustainable university space to support feminist-informed teacher action research. Patricia’s hunger for knowledge and action is evident from a young age. She majored in journalism and geography before ultimately earning a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in and a Masters in Counseling by 1976. She joined the US Peace Corps in 1977, and has been an active member ever since. She volunteered with asylum seekers on the US southwest border, marched and witnessed for social justice, worked with battered women, counseled high schoolers, led Girl Scout troops, and worked locally with a coalition to feed the hungry. Through activism, teaching, and research, her passion has been at the interface of feminisms with participatory action research, teacher action research, and education.

In this episode, we delve into Pat's journey towards incorporating feminism into PAR (03:41) and explore her significant contributions to the field of feminist participatory action research (FPAR) (08:55). We also discuss the FPAR framework (15:23) and examine some gaps in FPAR that she hopes get addressed(31:22). Additionally, we seek her advice for emerging PAR scholars (32:29) and inquire about her approach to incorporating feminism into podcasts (41:36). We also discuss her takeaways from the guest speakers and how they have influenced her feminist perspective (45:48), and provide advice for those interested in creating podcasts in the field of PAR (47:31).

Learn more about our podcast at our companion site https://www.parfemtrailblazers.net/ This episode is co-hosted by Vanessa Gold and Shikha Diwakar, and produced by Vanessa Gold, Shikha Diwakar, and Kavya Harshitha Jidugu. Music is by ZakharValaha from Pixabay.

In this episode, co-hosts Jessica Oddy and Patricia Maguire speak with Elise Denis-Ramirez, Amparo Gonzalez, and Jana Vasil’eva about their FPAR as PhD students advancing gender and reproductive justice, public policy in gender, and agriculture, and the creation and support of grassroots organising with unpaid, long term care workers.

Elise Denis-Ramirez is a feminist researcher and consultant who works in gender and reproductive justice research and advocacy. Her expertise covers sexual and reproductive health, abortion rights, gender-based violence, and youth-led approaches across regions including Latin America, east and west Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa. Elise is committed to engaging in FPAR and project work that is creative, gender transformative, and intersectional. Elise is a doctoral researcher at the Open University with a focus on feminist approaches. Her PhD explores the complexities of sexuality, autonomy, and abortion in Chile through co-production with young women. This research is carried out in partnership with the IPPF and the IPPF Americas and Caribbean office.

Amparo Gonzalez is a social worker who is prominent in social research and the development of social policies and programs. She is completing her PhD in public policy at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Amparo has a deep passion for issues related to gender, participatory research, governance, and agriculture, especially in public policy. Her research has resulted in innovative initiatives, promoting sustainability and community engagement. She has also represented gender interests to government to advocate for equality and diverse policies in the workplace. In addition, she has developed evidence-based frameworks to promote organizational integrity and inclusion in major institutions and companies.

Jana Vasil’eva's PhD research at the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences supports the creation of grassroots organizational efforts of unpaid, long term care workers who provide 24/7 care to families and community members. This project arose at the start of the coronavirus pandemic which exacerbated the care crisis that is a daily matter for most caregivers. Jana uses an FPAR approach which combines creative languages, such as podcasts, photography, and creative writing with dialogical spaces of learning, which has brought together iterative circles of caregivers from 25 states in Mexico, as well as Chile, Peru, Argentina, and Colombia. Jana has also worked in local and international organizations, focusing on areas of social inequalities, gender based violence, and feminist economics.

This conversation explores the inspiration behind grassroots organizing of unpaid caregivers in Mexico (04:58); Broad organizational efforts of caregivers in Latin America (09:08); FPAR exploring sexuality autonomy and abortion in Chile through creative co-production with young people (13:55); Motivation for researching women's experiences in small-scale agriculture (19:41); the role of PAR in supporting the efforts of unpaid care workers and advancing care policies within Mexico and other Latin American countries (23:33); PAR as a force of change for small women farmers and agriculturalists (32:59); The potential of PAR for young people regarding the complexities of sexuality, autonomy, and abortion in Chile (36:51); Navigating the challenges and joys of doing PAR (41:33); Challenges at home institutions recognizing PAR and FPAR as a valid approach to knowledge creation (46:47); Trust building and advice for researchers (52:03); Risks as feminist participatory researchers (58:28); and Advancement in FPAR (01:04:27).

Learn more about our guests, their work, and references mentioned in the episode at our companion site https://www.parfemtrailblazers.net/ This episode is co-hosted by Jessica Oddy and Patricia Maguire and produced by Vanessa Gold, Shikha Diwakar, and Kavya Harshitha Jidugu. Music is by ZakharValaha from Pixabay.

In this episode, we speak with Wardarina and Vernie Yocogan-Diano about their feminist participatory action research projects advancing women's rights and development justice through building autonomous feminist movements and organizations with the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development.

Wardarina is an activist, feminist, and feminist participatory action research enthusiast. She is originally from Indonesia and moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand 12 years ago to work with APWLD. She's currently the deputy regional coordinator of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), which is a network of 265 plus organizations and diverse women's groups from 30 countries in Asia and Pacific.

Vernie is an indigenous women's human rights defender. She's been an activist for over 30 years in her home region, Cordillera, Philippines. She's also an activist at the national level in the Philippines and the Asia Pacific region. She's a training facilitator for APWLD, which is an integral part of her work, leading, igniting, organizing, and mobilizing women. She joined APWLD as a mentor and trainer facilitator in 2012.

The conversation starts with exploring the background of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, its mission and membership (02:24); Vernie’s community, activist work and her journey to APWLD (05:32); APWLD's Journey into Feminist Participatory Action Research (10:26); APWLD's commitment over time to Feminist Participatory Action Research (18:22); Supporting women's groups to do Feminist Participatory Action Research (27:52); Women’s learnings in Feminist Participatory Action Research projects (30:46); Dealing with the dangers of doing FPAR and organizational solidarity (36:22); Women workers’ labor rights in an era of digitalization - a Feminist Participatory Action Research project (44:15); Reflexivity as feminist participatory researchers (45:43); and APWLD's commitment to FPAR and building participatory interactive tools (51:23).

Learn more about our guests, their work, and references mentioned in the episode at our companion site https://www.parfemtrailblazers.net/ This episode is hosted by Patricia Maguire and produced by Vanessa Gold, Shikha Diwakar, and Kavya Harshitha Jidugu. Music is by ZakharValaha from Pixabay.