Just Research in Contentious Times: Widening the Methodological Imagination

In this intensely powerful and personal new text, Michelle Fine widens the methodological imagination for students, educators, scholars, and researchers interested in crafting research with communities. Fine shares her struggles over the course of 30 years to translate research into policy and practice that can enhance the human condition and create a more just world. Animated by the presence of  W.E.B. DuBois, Gloria Anzaldúa, Maxine Greene, and Audre Lorde, the book examines a wide array of critical participatory action research (PAR) projects involving school pushouts, Muslim American youth, queer youth of color, women in prison, and children navigating under-resourced schools. Throughout, Fine assists readers as they consider sensitive decisions about epistemology, ethics, politics, and methods; critical approaches to analysis and interpretation; and participatory strategies for policy development and organizing. Just Research in Contentious Times  is an invaluable guide for creating successful participatory action research projects in times of inequity and uncertainty.

“It is nearly impossible to capture the stunning effect of Just Research in Contentious Times. The chapters create a gut punch for research and its impact on participants and on the researchers themselves. It reveals that we are all guilty and also all vulnerable.”
—Yvonna Lincoln, Texas A&M University

“Just Research in Contentious Times is beyond inspiring. This book is teeming with heartfelt practical examples of what knowledge production for human freedom and justice requires of us.”
—Joyce E. King, Georgia State University

“This book offers the reader insight on how to capture a dynamic, balanced, and realistic portrait of people who face impossible odds.”
—William E. Cross, professor emeritus, Graduate Center, CUNY