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Large Visitor Map
The idea for ARNA evolved from a conference work group at the University of San Diego Action Research Conference in May 2012. By November, a team of 5 network initiators from the US, Canada, and Mexico had joined forces and started to organize ARNA. They were soon joined by many others who began working to build the ARNA community. We are recording ARNA history in two ways at this time.
Archived DocumentsWe are archiving ARNA documents through the use of a historical timeline. Since the beginning, ARNA has generated numerous documents related to operations, governance, goal setting, and events and activities. ARNA leadership has worked diligently to upload documents each year, and we hope that members and visitors and scholars find them useful as a part of the living history of ARNA.
| Oral History Project
The great discovery of contemporary science is that the universe is not simply a place, but a story – a story in which we are immersed, to which we belong, and out of which we arose. -Swimme & Tucker, 2011 Concurrently with the publication of the inaugural ARNA 2014 Conference Proceedings, we established the ARNA Oral History Project. Given that ARNA is a relatively new organization founded in 2012, you may ask, “Why oral history?" Oral history is the collection of stories and reminiscences of the members of a community (Janesick, 2010). By sharing our experiences through interviews and recorded reflections, we are writing ARNA history as we are living it, i.e., living in action. Hence, the purpose of the ARNA Oral History Project is to capture the ARNA network inception, initiation, development, and self-organization as perceived and experienced by its members. The goal is to document ARNA evolution as its future unfolds by interviewing ARNA members and leaders during its annual conferences. Oral history interviewing is dialogical in nature. By telling stories we make meaning of our experiences. Oral history is to generate a particular knowledge, i.e., ARNA network living theory. Oral history is an “educative activity” (Janesick, 2010, p. 16). Knowing our history is empowering and transforming. Knowing our history is to make sense of who we are; where we have come from; and what lies ahead of us. Gathered stories serve as a foundation to engage actions, processes, activities, and accomplishments; to make informed decisions about changes, directions, and improvements; to shape our identity, and to plan and to explore new possibilities, ultimately to sustain our community. During the ARNA 2014 Conference held in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in May 2014, four founding members were interviewed included Lonnie Rowell, Cathy Bruce, Margaret Riel, and Joe Shosh. ARNA is the creation of these four members of our community. Elena Polush conducted these first oral history interviews. We are grateful to them for their time to describe events and to tell their unique stories of lived-through experiences of how the ARNA vision evolved and was realized. The four narratives will be forthcoming.
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