Читать книгу The Sage Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice - Группа авторов - Страница 61

As we mentioned in the introduction, we see CAR as a process of relational capacity building. Capacity building in this regard is defined as activities that strengthen the relationships, knowledge, abilities and resources of individual communities and that improve institutional and social structures and processes so that organizations and communities can meet their goals in a sustainable way (Brix et al., 2020; McNamee and Hosking, 2012). This is linked to the capabilities approach, where the focus is on the capabilities that all people need to flourish, i.e., the capability to work/learn, to be healthy, to be part of a community, and to nurture relationships within the family and beyond (Cottam, 2018).

Here, we suggest ideas such as how co-researchers can work together to co-identify assets and resources in people and relationships in environments such as buildings, meeting places and green spaces. Something that often happens in the process of co-identifying assets and resources, which we suggest should be emphasized, is that one comes to know many people. Once one comes to know these assets, one can connect people and resources together, which creates relationships and communities. These relationships and communities will then be mobilized in this process, which ultimately creates changes within the area of research interest and beyond.

As part of the process, one will surely experience chaos and uncertainty. This refers more to an attitude rather than to a procedure to invite interdependence between chaos and order in a developing inquiry. This attitude enables the participants to avoid premature closure on their reflections and actions while helping them overcome feelings of confusion, uncertainty, ambiguity, disorder and tension as an asset. Since uncertainty accompanies chaos, awareness of relational dynamics may be helpful in guiding the Collaborative Action Research process. Reason (1999, p. 213) argues that CAR ‘is sometimes about throwing all caution to the winds in a wild experiment. There can be no guarantee that chaos will occur; certainly, one cannot plan it’. An important validity issue for balancing chaos and order is to be prepared for chaos and then to tolerate it and not let anxiety press for a premature order, while waiting for a sense of creative resolution.