In 2004, eleven faculty members from seven institutions participated in the Institute. The disciplines of Anthropology, Sociology, Social Sciences, Social Work, Psychology, Latino Studies, and African American Studies were represented. The final sessions of the Institute involve the faculty participants presenting the course or courses they have designed or redesigned.

Organized by academic discipline below are summaries of the 2004 revised course syllabi presented by faculty participants. You can also link to a working Participatory Action Bibliography compiled at the Institute and the 2003 Faculty Schedule



ANTHROPOLOGY:

Costas Spirou, National-Louis University
ANTHROPOLOGY: LAS411
Urban Anthropology

• The purpose of this course is:
• (1) To introduce students to the traditional and developing anthropological theories, methods, and techniques used to study cities and urban life; and to indicate the contribution which these modes of gathering and analyzing data and of reaching general conclusions make to the interdisciplinary examination of complex society.
  
• (2) To note the character and processes of social and cultural change as these are realized in urban populations.
  
• (3) To invite student reflections on cultural diversity and understanding of the distinctiveness of culture as a powerful tool of life history.
• Each student will be required to select a Chicago neighborhood and for it create a community asset map, compile a statistical data profile, or conduct a series of neighborhood interviews.
  

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SOCIOLOGY:

(Shu-Ju) Ada Cheng, DePaul University
SOCIOLOGY / WOMEN STUDIES / INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
Scholoarship, Praxis and Social Changes: Participatory Action Research

• As a sequence to the Qualitative Methods class, this course focuses specifically on participatory action research (PAR). PAR, with its inherent emphasis on an equal relationship between the researcher and the researched, emphasizes the importance of respecting the situated knowledge of research participants. This method, unshackled from the dogma of positivism and its illusion of 'neutrality' and 'detachment' in research process, stresses the significance of working with community organizations and working toward social changes. In other words, rather than staying isolated and comfortable in the ivory tower, researchers will link scholarship, praxis, and social changes as all essential components of their research projects. In this class, we will excavate this particular history and trace the pioneer work of PAR/activist sociologists. In addition, we will learn the history and intellectual foundation of PAR. We will work with select community organizations here in Chicago and conduct ethnography, including participant observation and in-depth interviews.
  

Victor M. Ortiz Gonzalez, Northeastern Illinois University
SOCIOLOGY 319d
Introduction to the Barrio

• What is a barrio? What does it mean for different members of Latino groups? What does it mean for immigrants and to U.S. born citizens? In this class, we will explore these and other related questions in reference to historical and demographic data, along with political and theoretical insights from the social sciences and, equally important, our personal impressions and experiences. This course is an introductory overview of political conditions of Latinos as a still undefined conglomerate of diverse social constituencies. It explores their diversity and similarities, which are influenced not only by place of origin and ancestral ties (Guatemala, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and so forth) but also by gender, class, sexuality, racial, generational, and regional dimensions. This is an anthropological course with a strong emphasis on analysis and self-reflection to contend with the question about how to pour a hemisphere into a U.S. minority group.
  
• Each student will meet with a community organization, collect data, and provide the organization with a community profile data report tailored to their needs.
  

Emily Noelle Ignacio, Loyola University Chicago
SOCIOLOGY 122
Race and Ethnicity in the United States

• We will examine (1) how racial categories are constructed and reified; (2) how various racial groups in the U.S. are affected by this socially constructed concept of race, institutional, and structural racism; (3) the commonalities and differences of each race's experiences; (4) how race affects the identities of individuals; and (5) recent efforts to fight against racial oppression and various other -isms.
• One of the requirements includes students writing a paper based on attendance at an ethnic identity program at a neighborhood ethnic museum or cultural center in the Cultural Connections series.

• Equitable Community Development will explore policies and strategies that produce a high quality of life and maximum opportunities for all residents of local communities, including low-income families. Students in this course will collaborate on community-based policy projects with the Organization of the NorthEast (ONE) and the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA). These organizations have been active in the Rogers Park, Edgewater, Uptown, and Logan Square neighborhoods in Chicago. They have also been key organizers of the Balanced Development Campaign that has successfully encouraged local government leaders to enact equitable development strategies in Chicago.

• The Social Scientist's toolkit should consist of both qualitative and quantitative problem evaluation and solving techniques. The quantitative part takes into consideration the use of mathematics, statistics, and socio-economic theory to develop and frame problems for analyzing problems and providing policy prescriptions. The qualitative part takes into consideration participatory action methods. Thus, methods in this course will consist of examining the continuum between positivism and qualitative methods, consisting of participatory action methods. Spanning this continuum allows the introduction of quantitative and qualitative tool, which will be used to develop and frame problems, forecast outcomes, and, more importantly, develop futures that increase relevance and efficiency of previous states of reality.

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SOCIAL WORK:

Waldo E. Johnson, Jr., University of Chicago
SOCIAL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION 543
Doctoral Seminar in Theoretical and Conceptual Foundations of Qualitative Research Methods

• This seminar focuses on the use of qualitative methods in social science, with a particular focus on technique in social work research. This seminar is designed to address theoretical and conceptual issues associated with qualitative research methods. It also draws attention to epistemological and ethical concerns in social science and to strategic and logistical issues in the conduct of field research. Both positivist and interpretive approaches to the use of qualitative methods will be explored with a particular focus on participatory action research (PAR) as a philosophical approach to conducting social science inquiry. In the examination of subsequent qualitative methodological approaches, both PAR and traditional positivist philosophical approaches will be examined. Concept and theory building, strategies and techniques, and the ethics of qualitative research in addition to discussing different issues of reliability and validity in the use of qualitative data will be emphasized.

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PSYCHOLOGY:

Bernadette Sánchez, DePaul University
PSYCHOLOGY 341/416
QUALITATIVE METHODS

• A growing number of psychologists are employing qualitative methods in their research. This course will provide an overview of this approach. Specifically, we will cover the history and paradigms of qualitative research, the strategies and data collection methods used, and how to make sense of qualitative data once it is collected.
• Each student will be required to choose a community setting and spend 2-3 hours a week conducting interviews, observations, data analysis, and report-writing.

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LATINO STUDIES:

Nilda Flores-Gonzalez, University of Illinois-Chicago
LATINO STUDIES 301
Research Methods in Latino Studies

• The main objective of this class is to teach students how to conduct a research project. The course will focus on qualitative methods in Participatory Action Research (PAR) with a community-based organization. Students will work on the project "Fighting Gentrification in Puerto Rican Chicago." This project will study the various coordinated initiatives that are under way in the Humboldt Park community of Chicago. What is unique about this community is its coordination of redevelopment and anti-gentrification efforts through the Puerto Rican Agenda, a coalition of community leaders and organizations.

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AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES:

Michelle R. Boyd, University of Illinois at Chicago
AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES 360
Contemporary Black Politics: Race and the politics od neighborhood development

• This seminar examines the political causes and consequences of place-based racial inequalities in American cities. It considers public and private efforts to physically contain certain urban populations, and analyzes attempts to gain control over the processes of neighborhood development. The course is designed to help students understand why their community looks the way it does, why it differs from others, and what neighborhood residents can do to address those inequalities. Its ultimate purpose is to help students understand the legacy of uneven urban development, recognize its contemporary manifestations and imagine ways of challenging it.
• Each student will conduct and present a research study that focuses on race by choosing to evaluate a film, analyzing census and news sources about changes in their neighborhood, or by volunteering in a neighborhood level government office, civic or community organization and interviewing and observing people there about interactions and the use of space.
  
  

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