Participatory (action) research and disciplinary convergences Reflections based on a study of participatory budgeting in South Brazil

Abstract

The text is built on the premise that social reality – as a phenomenon which is multifaceted and in movement – requires a methodological approach which allows identifying the object of investigation in the tension between its specificity and totality. The concept “disciplinary convergences”, borrowed from Orlando Fals Borda, suggests the encounter of disciplines and non-disciplinary knowledges to understand reality. There is presented a brief historical revision, referring the work of Fals Borda (Colombia), Freire (Brazil) and the Tavistock Institute (England). The perspective of convergence is exemplified with a research project on participatory budgeting in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). In the conclusion it is argued that we are faced with the challenge of developing a new relationship with social reality which, on its turn, implies a new relationship with the diverse loci of knowledge production, and a new relationship of these loci among themselves.