A collaborative self-study of ethical issues in participatory action research with refugee-background young people in grassroots football

This collaborative self-study explores the ethical ambiguities and dilemmas that emerged in participatory action research (PAR) with refugee-background young people in a grassroots football programme. The project comprised a six-month PAR in a football programme in Melbourne, Australia. Participants included the first author and 13 African Australian refugee-background young women. The ethical issues encountered concerned: (a) challenges of negotiating identities and the ethics and politics of knowledge production; (b) dilemmas in the collective struggle against, and resistance to, forms of oppression; and (c) the need to share power and the accompanying fear of losing research control. We recommend that PAR projects with refugee-background young people consider critical ethic of care as a framework for anticipating and navigating ethical issues that may arise. Such a framework can give form to sensitive conversations to reveal power relations, capture complexities and contradictions inherent within caring, and guide collective practices towards recovering dignity and equity within PAR.