Patta Scott-Villiers is an action researcher focusing on the political anthropology of people on the margins of power, accompanying them and their civic organisations in their efforts to exert influence for equitable development.

Participatory Research

Patta studies and teaches participatory action research methods and co-designs action research and participatory studies that build people’s analysis and action on the most crucial issues affecting their lives and work. She has worked for more than three decades in East Africa in support of pastoralist movements for peacebuilding and indigenous governance.

She has also worked with residents of informal settlements in East Africa on political expression of food rights, and most recently has begun working with youth leaders in northern UK in support of their inquiries and action on young people left behind by the mainstream. Patta emphasises bringing our research back to the people who have contributed to it, stimulating conversations about what research findings mean and what can be done. It’s part of her inquiry into how action research can contribute to beneficial change.

Patta convenes and teaches on the Master’s Degree in Power, Participation and Social Change at IDS, the Designing Critical Enquiry methods module and the Unruly Politics action-theory module that explores popular politics on the margins. Her PhD used action research to analyse disagreements in relations between pastoralists, development workers and the state in East Africa, a theme that she continues to pursue in her work on barriers to equity in Africa and the UK.

PhD Supervision

Patta supervises PhD students studying people’s action to counter political and social marginalization and is currently supervising and collaborating with three brilliant PhD students:

• Egidio Chaimite, who is working on a remarkable political anthropology of hegemony and resistance in Mozambique (supervising with Alex Shankland)

• Yi-Chin Wu, who is generating a deeply insightful analysis of the relationship of knowledge, tradition, and modernity among Ifugao peoples in the Philippines (supervising with Alex Shankland)

• Effie Makepeacewho is using a unique methodology to explore applied and embodied theatre practice with women in Malawi (supervising with Jason Price)

If you are interested in collaborating as a PhD student or co-researcher, please contact Patta.