Action Research for Diverse Economies

Jenny Cameron
Katherine Gibson

This chapter discusses how research can be part of a social action agenda to build new economies. This research is based on collaborations between researchers and research participants, and involves three interwoven strategies. The first focuses on developing new languages of economy; the second, on decentring economic subjectivity; and the third, on collective actions to consolidate and build economic initiatives. The chapter illustrates how these strategies feature in three research projects. The first project was based in the Philippines and involved working with an NGO and two municipalities to pilot pathways for endogenous economic development. The second project was based in the US Northeast and used participatory mapping techniques to reveal the use and stewardship of marine resources. The third project was based in Australia and focused on environmentally sustainable and socially and economically just forms of manufacturing. These projects resulted in collective actions that created new economic options.

Suggested citation

Cameron J, & Gibson, K., 2020. ‘Action Research for Diverse Economies', in J.K. Gibson-Graham & K. Dombroski (eds), Handbook of Diverse Economies, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, Chapter 56.