CLASS, VOICE, AND STATE: Knowledge production in self-organised working class activity and the politics of developing community television in Ireland using PAR strategies
This thesis is concerned with how working class self-organised communities use media as part of their process of knowledge production. It documents a participatory action research (PAR) project that sought to encourage the involvement of community organisations in the process of developing community television in the Republic of Ireland. It is particularly concerned with the involvement of Community Media Network (CMN) in the process of forming Dublin Community Television (DCTV) from vision to reality. The PAR project and the thesis form part of the knowledge production process around community media; the purpose of the thesis is to map the process of forming DCTV and to clarify the self image – what it as come to be; to identify fault lines in the ‘how-to’ knowledge that exists, and to identify the possibilities that emerge from the investigation My argument identifies community media (CM) in general and community television (CTV) in particular, as activity that is part of the process of working-class “voice” but constrained by interaction with the state. The relationship between knowledge production and ownership of the means of production is key to the organisation of community media; the dynamics and historical context of such organising shapes these media and determines directions and patterns in the movement’s activity. Building the technological organisation needed to facilitate “voice” is a core focus of the investigation. A Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach provided a framework in which the tacit knowledge of participating groups could be brought to bear on the building of the new organisation. PAR means that the researcher is a participant and it also allows participants to engage in and direct the research process. This means that the researcher’s role can be complex; the interests and concerns of all involved are live and determining factors; and that the research question may be re-visited as the research – or knowledge production – process uncovers underlying needs and dynamics. The thesis explores the contexts in which the organisation developed and the forces by which it was shaped. The challenge we faced is represented most by the changes in the research question - as the problematic focused on the evolving gap between building the technical organisation and the engagement of community organizers in the process.
National University of Ireland - Maynooth
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