This is a reflexive, exploratory paper[1] on the intellectual journey involved in investigating Participatory Action Research (PAR)[2] as a methodology for my PhD project on communal memory and missing archives as reflected in the visual arts in Nunavut. This topic forms the context and therefore the limits of my survey. The 1990s have been called the decade of Participatory Action Research (PAR). Collaborative and participatory approaches are highly recommended in research with Inuit, First Nations and Metis communities. Rapid structural changes in Nunavut are creating a dramatic shift in social dynamics, in the Territorial North in general and in Nunavut in particular
[1] This paper is complemented by a web page www.carleton.ca/~mflynnbu/par.
[2] PAR has been recommended by the Nunavut Research Institute (NRI), the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Canadian Research Institute for The Advancement of Women (CRIAW), as the preferred research model for collaborations between academics and indigenous peoples. PAR has been highly praised as a research method that contributes to social change by providing a place for those people whose voices are not heard — to speak and be heard.
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