The WhyPAR Podcast
The whyPAR Podcast is a podcast where youth participatory action research practitioners discuss the ethical dimensions of conducting YPAR. In this podcast, we explore issues of co-leading YPAR projects, building relationships, power dynamics, and sharing our work together. We ask practitioners to consider the ethical commitments that guide their work, as they push against structures, and reach towards new futures.
In 2017, YPAR practitioners from the Youth Research Lab began a collaborative survey project to engage YPAR practitioners in sharing the challenges and opportunities that they faced while disseminating youth knowledge from various YPAR projects, across different settings, and with different audiences. Inspired by these findings, the WhyPAR podcast places YPAR practitioners in conversation with each other so that they can delve into the ethical complexities and opportunities of conducting YPAR with diverse youth communities.
Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all other streaming platforms!
Latest Conversation
Episode 18: Facilitator Archetypes: Navigating institutions as community engaged facilitators
This podcast episode uses 3 archetypes: the doula, the smuggler and translator to explore the role that many community engaged facilitators take in navigating the institutions that they work within and for. Through the lens of these archetypes, we expand on the ways that community engaged facilitators leverage their power or position to work towards justice and safety for the communities they are accountable to. Embodying these archetypes as a facilitator is often either a deliberate choice or a reflection of the unique gifts each facilitator carries with them.
Music and production by Sherry Ostapovitch
Details
Ostapovitch, S. (2025) Facilitator archetypes: Navigating institutions as community engaged facilitators, a conversation with Muna Mohamed, Stuart Poyntz, and Ammarah Syed with the Pedagogies of Community Engagement Collective. (No 1.) [Audio podcast episode]. In The whyPAR Podcast. https://www.communityfacilitation.ca/resources/facilitator-archetypes
References and further reading
Acknowledgements
The WhyPAR Podcast would not have been possible without many individuals who worked on, or contributed to various phases of this podcast such as survey design and analysis, and podcast development. Thank you to Mel Bertrand, Tara Brown, Paula Elias, Maddy Fox, Christy Guthrie, Alissa Jean, Danielle Koehler, Julia Mogus, Mia Sanders, Vongaishe Shangamire, Hewton Tavares, and Fernanda Yanchapaxi for your work. Thank you to Leila Angod, Rebecca Beaulne-Steubing, Maddy Fox, Cristina Guerrero, Adam Howard, Brett Stoudt, Eve Tuck and Mayida Zaal for your support and contributions throughout this project.
Music credits: “Sin Ton Ni Son”, by Raúl Gaztambide.