Demystifying Participatory Analysis With Children: A South Korean Case of Migrant Children’s Engagement in Analytic Works in Participatory Research

Abstract

Despite its importance, participatory analysis has traditionally been an unexplored field. In particular, children have been marginalized in the analysis process due to their perceived inexperience and lack of capabilities. Even though there have been efforts to provide children with training, known as capacity-building, in this approach, the pre-existing dominant narrative about who has valuable knowledges and who the experts has been repeated over time. Drawing on the understanding of participatory analysis as an ongoing process and children’s ways of knowing, this study illuminates how a group of migrant children in South Korea engage in analytic work in participatory research. In this study, the migrant children showed their engagement in analytic work while crossing the boundaries of the stages of formal analysis. Particularly, the children’s engagement in analytic work occurred based on various methods of reflection which generated a fruitful explanation about the complexities surrounding their belonging. This study should make us rethink what is regarded as children’s analysis in participatory research. Based on the results, this study suggests children’s participatory analysis needs to be radically reimagined beyond simplifying the practices of adult researchers.