CBPR and a Multitrack Model of Development: A Proposed Critical Ethnography

BTSU 315

The modernization paradigm of development still dominates in practice, according to Sparks (2007), and apparently, that is only one indicator of how the participatory development paradigm has not lived up to its elegant theoretical promise. This paper argues that the community-based participatory paradigm can live up to its promise as it works in tandem with the dominant paradigm, despite seemingly antithetical epistemologies. A critical ethnography of a community-based participatory research project in a Midwest university health communication class is proposed to assess this contention. Some research questions that could be addressed include: Do group members connect their experience to the CBPR approach studied during the health communication class to their own work while designing the health campaign? Is the annotated multitrack model useful in describing a CBPR classroom project? Ultimately, this paper seeks to add to the literature by making connections between health and development communication within pedagogical and community settings, with an eye toward better interventions and positive social change.