The objective of the
module is to familiarise students with community-research partnerships and
their application to a practical socioeconomic problem. Students will be
facilitated in leading their own learning and how to develop a proposal
consistent with the principles, politics and practices of Community-Based
Participatory Research (CBPR).
CBPR aims for
mutually-beneficial collaboration between researchers and community members in
designing and implementing research projects to meet local needs. The approach
emphasises the value of experiential learning and critically exploring the
epistemological reasoning for and typical assumptions about doing social
research, how humans and social structures can be best studied, and who should
control the process of how knowledge is produced. Students will gain both an
introduction to CBPR approaches and their implementation, responding to the
research needs of local community partners and the socioeconomic issues
surrounding migrant workers in the hidden economy of Marxloh.
Informal,
"hidden" or "shadow" economic activity and the
socioeconomic marginalisation of migrant workers within the European Union (EU)
have become major topics of academic, policy and public interest in recent
years. Germany and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia especially has recently
attracted attention given outbreaks of the Covid-19 virus in communities of
Roma, Bulgarian and Romanian workers, bringing previously hidden pictures of
poor living and working conditions, as well as accusations of "systemic
exploitation" and "modern slavery" into public view. Mobile
migrant workers in Marxloh, some of which have limited legal rights and social
welfare protection within the EU, are living and working within a socioeconomic
context that is generally detached and obscured from the mainstream economy and
society.
Critical reflection and
active engagement form a key expectation of the course. Students prepare in the
week before the class by reading, reflecting, answering questions and
formulating key points on given texts to be provided on Moodle one week before
class. Students are also expected to prepare a research proposal for the
community partner’s tender call, while their understanding upon completion of
the course will be assessed through an oral exam. The course will be conducted
in-person (with appropriate measures, Covid-19 restrictions permitting) and in both English and German.
