In this episode, we speak with Dr. Maggie O'Neill about her journey into the transformative possibilities of participatory research in working with female sex workers and migrants and re-imagining participatory action research through biographical, ethnographic methods, and performative arts. 

Dr. Maggie O'Neill is Professor in Sociology and Criminology at University College Cork, where she's also Director of the Institute for Social Science in the 21st Century and UCC Collective Social Futures. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with a long history of research in critical, cultural, and feminist theories, using creative, participatory, walking, art-based biological methodologies, and Praxis. Her work also extends to policy relevant interventions, especially related to sex work, migration, and sexual violence. Her latest book, Criminal Women: Gender Matters was co-authored with a group of feminists using biographical, narrative, and participatory methods. Maggie is also an elected member of the Royal Irish Academy, which is the highest academic honor in Ireland. She is an avowed feminist, and her unwavering commitment is to creating intellectual and practical spaces and processes to include women's voices, particularly marginalized women, in research and policymaking.

The conversation starts with exploring our guest’s journey into Participatory Action Research (02:48). Topics discussed include biographical and ethnographic methods, and performative arts used in Prostitute Outreach Workers Project (04:12), Participatory Action Research in partnership with forced migrants, women in migration and transnational communities (10:18), Situational Authority and Power dynamics (13:59), Impact on agency leaders, personnel on policy(16:10), Barriers in doing Partcipatory Action Research with sex workers and migrants and collaborating with various groups (21:18), Relationship building, collaboration and starting with Participatory Action Research (27:20), Ethics of care and caring (31:46), Open access and research (36:37), and  collaborative focus on feminist participatory action research and the power of theatre, in participatory research and participatory arts (41:54) Tune-in to hear more!

Learn more about our guests, their work, and references mentioned in the episode at our companion site: https://www.parfemtrailblazers.net/. This episode is hosted by Patricia Maguire and produced by Vanessa Gold, Shikha Diwakar, and Kavya Harshitha Jidugu. Music is by ZakharValaha from Pixabay.