Conference/workshop and web site address participatory feminism in academia

Combining cutting edge developments in the fields of feminism and participatory action research, a group of Cornell students, faculty and staff have developed the participatory feminism web site, PARFEM at http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/PARFEM/site.htm . The web site will facilitate a planned conference/workshop on the relationship between participatory action research and feminisms titled "Feminisms and the Academy -- Going Out of Business: Conversation with Patricia Maguire" to be held Friday, Jan. 25, and Saturday, Jan. 26, in 401 Warren Hall.

The conference/workshop is free and open to the public, however, registration is required to gain access to discussion forums and to better plan the workshop and other services.

Patricia Maguire, a professor of education at the Western New Mexico University Gallup Graduate Studies Center, is the conference guest speaker. Participants should visit the PARFEM web site to learn more about Maguire's background and PARFEM's long-range goals, as well as to participate in the pre- and post-conference virtual discussions. A post conference seminar/discussion also is planned for Jan. 31, 2:30-5:30 p.m., in 153 Uris Hall.

A pioneer in integrating feminism and participatory action research, Maguire states the following on the web site's home page: "... I am interested in conversing about how we ... feminists, action researchers, activists, parents ... can sustain the political and politicizing nature of our work from within the academy. Is women's studies still radical and radicalizing? Has action research -- taught and promoted from within the academy -- ever been radical? What are those of us situated within higher education doing here?"

The conference/workshop focuses on Maguire's 25 years of teaching, training, developing and managing programs in multicultural settings in university-based teacher and counselor education; staff, organizational and community training and development; and participatory research.

During the past summer and fall, members of the Cornell Participatory Action Research Network (CPARN) and the Feminisms and Participatory Action Research Study Group teamed up with members of instructional support staff at Cornell Information Technologies and the instruction coordinator of the Reference Services Division at Olin/Uris Library to develop PARFEM. It is a pre-conference virtual discussion site as well as anchor for an experimental course aimed at building a participatory feminism curriculum.

"The outcome of these activities also will be evaluated for accessibility and 'true' participation through a research-based, e-learning environment," said Nimat Hafez Barazangi, a research fellow at the Women's Studies Program, a member of CPARN and web site and conference/workshop coordinator. Now established nationally and internationally (www.parnet.org), CPARN and its members also collaborate with local community stakeholders in projects that combine academic knowledge with local knowledge.

The conference planning group includes: Assistant Professor Scott Peters, CPARN director; Laurie Vasily, graduate student in adult education; Mary Jo Dudley, associate director of the Latin American Studies Program; Professor Davydd J. Greenwood, director of the Institute for European Studies and CPARN co-founder; Eric Lum '04, College of Arts and Sciences; Ann Martin, associate dean of Industrial and Labor Relations Extension and Public Service; and Mónica Ruiz-Casares, graduate student in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management.

CPARN is affiliated both with Cornell's Einaudi Center for International Studies and Community and Rural Development Institute and coordinates local projects with Cornell's Public Service Center. The CPARN graduate student representatives to the Graduate Professional Student Assembly Finance Committee are Hélène Grégoire, Sara Sywulka and Isatou Jack.

People or groups or organizations interested in participating in the conference/workshop discussion, send e-mail to Nimat Hafez Barazangi at nhb2@cornell.edu using "Conversation with Pat Maguire" as the subject line. To register, contact Patricia Biermayr-Jenzano at plj3@cornell.edu or 255-0783. To order Selected Writings on Feminisms and Action Research, contact the Latin American Studies office at 255-3345 or in 190 Uris Hall.