Partnerships for Empowerment
Participatory Research for Community-based Natural Resource Management
Edited by Carl Wilmsen ,  William Elmendorf ,  Larry Fisher ,  Jacquelyn Ross ,  Brinda Sarathy ,  Gail Wells
Cloth: 978 1 84407 562 1
Price: $166.00  

Paper: 978 1 84407 563 8
Price: $48.95  

Publisher: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
June 2008 , 306 pp., 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
maps, photos & tables
Participatory research has emerged as an approach to producing knowledge that is sufficiently grounded in local needs and realities to support community-based natural resource management (CBNRM), and it is often touted as crucial to the sustainable management of forests and other natural resources.

This book analyzes the current state of the art of participatory research in CBNRM. Its chapters and case studies examine recent experiences in collaborative forest management, harvesting impacts on forest shrubs, watershed restoration in Native American communities, civic environmentalism in an urban neighborhood and other topics. Although the main geographic focus of the book is the United States, the issues raised are synthesized and discussed in the context of recent critiques of participatory research and CBNRM worldwide. The book’s purpose is to provide insights and lessons for academics and practitioners involved in CBNRM in many contexts. The issues it covers will be relevant to participatory research and CBNRM practitioners and students the world over.



Table of Contents:
List of Figures, Tables and Boxes; List of Contributors; Acknowledgements; Foreword—Jeffrey Campbell; List of Acronyms and Abbreviations; 1) Negotiating Community, Participation, Knowledge and Power in Participatory Research—Karl Wilmsen; 2) Core Criteria and Assessment of Participatory Research—J. D. Wulfhorst, Brian W. Eisenhauer, Stephanie L. Gripne and Johanna M. Ward; 3) Challenges to Institutionalizing Participatory Research in Community Forestry in the US—Carl Wilmsen and Ajit Krishnaswamy; 4) From Environmental Racism to Civic Environmentalism: Using Participation and Nature to Develop Community in the Belmont Neighborhood of West Philadelphia—William F. Elmendorf and Michael Rios; 5) Creating Common Ground: A Collaborative Approach to Environmental Reclamation and Cultural Preservation—Jacquelyn Ross, Shannon Brawley, Jan Lowrey and Don l. Hankins; 6) Opportunities and Challenges in Community Capacity-Building: Lessons from Participatory Research in Macon County, North Carolina—Gabriel Cumming, Stacy J. Guffey and Carla Norwood; 7)Calibrating Collaboration: Monitoring and Adaptive Management of the Landscape Working Group Process on the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests in Western Colorado—Antony S. Cheng, Kathleen Bond, Carmine Lockwood and Susan Hansen; 8) Inclusion and Exclusion: Immigrant Forest Workers and Participation in Natural Resource Management—Heidi L. Ballard and Brinda Sarathy; 9) Comparing Participatory Ecological Research in Two Contexts: An Immigrant Community and a Native American Community on Olympic Peninsula, Washington—Heidi L. Ballard, Joyce A. Trettevick and Don Collins; 10) Battle at the Bridge: Using Participatory Approaches to Develop Community Researchers in Ecological Management—Jonathan Long, Mae Burnette, Delbin Endfield and Candy Lupe; 11) Research on Native Terms: Navigation and Participation Issues for Native Scholars in Community Research—Don L. Hankins and Jacquelyn Ross; 11) Participation, Relationships and Empowerment—Carl Wilmsen, William Elmendorf, Larry Fisher, Jacquelyn Ross; Brinda Sarathy and Gail Wells; Index.


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Reviews & Endorsements:
"Partnerships for Empowerment is a useful book for both theorists and practitioners interested in participatory action research (PAR) in natural resource programs, especially in a North American context. The first several chapters set up the important theoretical concepts that span any participatory research and at the same time introduce some of the general concerns and problems, including grants and funding, human subject research, the relationships between outside researchers and community members, and differences between more traditional research models and participatory research. The subsequent chapters are case studies, which do a good job of illustrating the general concepts and describing the successes and failures in each project. The clear, honest self-critiques make the case studies especially important to practitioners. Several times the project results are, on the surface, counterintuitive, e.g., in the chapter by H. Ballard and B. Sarathy titled "Inclusion and Exclusion." The authors' analyses explain the idiosyncrasies generating the site- and case-specific results. The entire book shows the complexity of PAR as a method. Unfortunately, some of the problems mentioned in the introductory chapters, such as funding and human subject research clearance, are rarely covered in the case studies. Summing Up: Highly recommended."
- Choice
"A 'must read' for anyone who cares about natural resource management....Without doubt this text will remain a centerpiece in environmental and community studies for years to come, as it demonstrates the power and promise of community-based partnerships on the vanguard of sustainable community development praxis, forging new pathways between social and environmental justice, and wedding theory and practice."
- Dr. Caitlin Cahill , University of Utah