Community-Based Research

Abstract

This chapter explores the role of community-based research (CBR) in environmental sociology. CBR has both an academic origin, from Kurt Lewin, and an activist origin, from Rajesh Tandon, and it has developed independently from environmental sociology. This chapter will define CBR, following Strand et al., as a collaborative enterprise between academic researchers and community members that seeks to democratizes knowledge to achieve social justice. It will then go on to look at the challenges facing CBR, such as establishing itself as a legitimate knowledge practice, and managing the tension between process and product. Next, the chapter covers various ways that CBR has been used in environmental sociology, including climate change, food systems, natural resource management, sustainable behavior change, and environmental justice. The chapter concludes by proposing a future direction for CBR in environmental sociology to expand its impact.