APPLIED DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Self-Determination for Whom?

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which issues of community-based development and proposed participatory research parallel each other in terms of the question of self-determination. Each of these types of participatory activity are ideals which in reality are subject to political and ethical constraints. The author also investigates the difficulties inherent in conducting 'applied' research for 'academic' (Ph.D. dissertation) purposes and the need for a praxis approach in anthropological training. These issues are situated in a proposed collaborative evaluation of community-based tourism development in Pangnirtung, Northwest Territories.