A joint action research project between two countries, one in Northern Europe and the other in Southern Africa, was launched in 2010 with the aim of facilitating professional development of compulsory school teachers. Participants (10 in total) from two schools in each country were chosen to take part in a one year pilot. During the pilot, the participants were attending separate and joint workshops, carrying out actions in their respective schools and collaborating with each other in these activities.

When the participants met physically for the first time, several of them expressed their astonishment over the realization of similarities between the teaching in the two countries and the teachers' mindset. The surprising easiness of communication was emphasized by all participants. This paper departs from this construction of resemblance in order to investigate in what ways will teachers construct the new ‘Us’ in an international action research project where participants from ’South’ and ’North’ meet to work jointly? To understand this construction of Us, it is necessary to even study how the participants express similarities and differences and what their strategies are to overcome differences?

Is there a danger that an action research project motivated by internationalization can turn into a new form of colonialism if we are not aware of the (hidden) structures of power prefiguring the seemingly ‘democratic’ collaboration?

In the line of critical theory we believe that it is necessary to examine international collaborations in terms of cultural practices and their relations to power in order to shed light on the dynamics of the interaction between participants in such interactions. Also, understanding the lived experience of the participants of the project requires a contextualization of these experiences.

Action research is understood as a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a community of practice to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. Action research is an interactive inquiry process that balances problem solving actions implemented in a collaborative context with data-driven collaborative analysis or research to understand underlying causes enabling future predictions about personal and organizational change (Reason & Bradbury, 2001).

Action research is one of several claims for salvation cures to school problems that have arisen the last twenty years. In the name of development and research, academia and practitioners build bridges to acquire new understandings of the conditions of education. It is believed that as long as critical reflection over practice takes place, the project will bear fruits. Is this really the case? What happens if we scratch the surface from the inside? In order to reach true empowerment and emancipation for participants, there needs to be a questioning of the taken for granted truths amongst ourselves as researchers; and an understanding about the possibilities of and conditions for critical reflection in varying cultural settings. Are international action research projects, despite the best intentions, nothing but a camouflaged colonialism?

Berrocal, E. G. (2009). The post-colonialism of ernesto de martino: The principle of critical ethnocentrism as a failed attempt to reconstruct ethnographic authority. History & Anthropology, 20(2), 123-138. Binka, F. (2005). Editorial: North–South research collaborations: A move towards a true partnership? Wiley-Blackwell. Broad, G., & Reyes, J. A. (2008). A Colombia—Canada research collaboration. Action Research, 6(2), 129-147. Forstorp, P. (2008). Who’s colonizing who? The knowledge society thesis and the global challenges in higher education. Studies in Philosophy & Education, 27(4), 227-236. Jones, M., & Stanley, G. (2010). Collaborative action research: A democratic undertaking or a web of collusion and compliance? International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 33(2), 151-163. McNiff, J. & Whitehead, J. (2006) All You Need To Know About Action Research, London; Sage. Pels, P. (2008). What has anthropology learned from the anthropology of colonialism? Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, 16(3), 280-299. Reason, P. & Bradbury, H., (Ed.) The SAGE Handbook of Action Research. Participative Inquiry and Practice. 1st Edition. London: Sage, 2001. Ryen, A. (2008). Trust in cross-cultural research: The puzzle of epistemology, research ethics and context. Qualitative Social Work, 7(4), 448-465.