Community-Based Research in Thailand: From Participatory Action Research to Democratizing Knowledge and Decolonizing Methodology

Abstract

This article analyzes the evolution of community-based research (CBR) in Thailand through a power/knowledge lens. It examines three models—community forest research (CFR), Thailand research fund–community-based research (TRF-CBR), and Thai Baan Research (TBR)—as distinct configurations of participatory research, local knowledge, and political engagement. It shows how CFR recognized local knowledge yet remained externally framed; how TRF-CBR fostered community learning while bounded by state rationalities; and how TBR enabled villagers to pursue epistemic justice. Together, the three models show how local knowledge has contested state hegemonic knowledge, as villagers seek partial autonomy from market dependency, navigate agrarian transitions shaped by broader political-economic forces, and reclaim epistemic justice through research.