ABSTRACT
Whilst the SDP sector has in recent years continued to gain momentum, academic enquiry has largely continued to question its place within development agendas from the outside looking in, examining SDP at the operational and policy levels using methods that advocate the formal guises of research. Through extensive fieldwork experiences in Rwanda and Liberia, the authors propose a form of participatory research methodology for the purpose of empowerment, cultural understanding and insight beyond policy, practice and evaluation. Participatory social interaction research (PSIR) methodology is thus introduced and developed as an approach that looks beyond interventions, deconstructs SDP rhetoric, conceptualizes according to culturally specific contexts and allows narratives and qualitative data to drive theorization and academic discussion. We believe that an embodied, thorough and thoughtful PSIR methodology locates not only diversity within an ill-defined ‘African’ context, but empowers local voices to construct detailed accounts of culture within and outside of SDP.
