Introduction To the Second Issue (Volume 11, Issue 3): A Conversation About Community-Engaged Research
by Timothy R. Amidon, Ann Blakeslee, Erin Brock Carlson, Lehua Ledbetter, Kristen R. Moore, Emma Rose, and Michele Simmons
Abstract: This introductory dialogue invites readers to think with a range of scholars about the role of community engaged researchers in the field. It draws together a range of perspectives as way of honoring CER through both methodology and genre. The authors provide insight into their own experiences and draw attention to elements of CER that rarely get discussed and published.
Decolonizing Community-Engaged Research: Designing CER with Cultural Humility as a Foundational Value
by Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq, Chris A. Lindgren, and Corina Qaaġraq Kramer
Abstract: In this article, we uptake the call for equipping researchers in practicing socially just CER in Indigenous communities through developing a framework for cultural humility in CER. Sparked by our research team’s experience considering the potential of CER to transform and contribute to the needs of both tribal and academic communities, we present cultural humility as a personal precondition for socially just, decolonial CER practice. We use the Inuit cultural practice of nalukataq as a key metaphor to present our framework for cultural humility: listening to the caller, setting your feet, pulling equally, staying in sync.
Beyond Policy: What Plants and Communities Can Teach Us About Sustainable Changemaking
by Lehua Ledbetter and Alexandria Neelis
Abstract: In this community insight paper, we share conversations that took place over the course of two years that we believe shed light on the informal and less-recognized ways that humans forge trust as they design communication to help each other survive as communities in times of scarcity. We hope that this paper will legitimize the communication pathways and resource exchange that we believe make for a sustainable food system centered around abundance rather than deficit. In doing so, we also hope to start a greater conversation on how communities build trust and communication nimbly and quickly in times of crisis as policymaking often lags behind the needs of the community. As we saw during the COVID-19 food crisis, ad hoc communities fill the gaps that policymakers (such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)) can’t when infrastructures fail. We take inspiration from the plants around us, farmers, scientists, community members, and the individuals and mutual aid groups that came together during the food crisis to build trust and dialogue as the first (and often most responsive) step towards sustainable food systems.
Community-Engaged User Experience Pedagogy: Stories, Emergent Strategy, and Possibilities
by Soyeon Lee, Heather Noel Turner, Emma J. Rose
Abstract: In this article, we discuss the unique challenges of Community-Engaged User Experience (CEUX) by using storytelling and present a framework of emergent patterns (brown, 2017) to make visible labor, practice, and messiness of the process of building, maintaining, and renewing partnerships with community members and partners. We share three models for CEUX engagements: one-to-many, many-to-many, and one-to-plural. Within the models, we detail the structure of each CEUX engagement, what students did, and the affordances and constraints of each model. In addition, we share thoughts or voices from the community partners or collaborators or students engaged in the projects. We conclude by connecting the models to the elements of Emergent Strategy in the section From Patterns to Possibilities where we call on fellow instructors and community partners to embrace abundance-oriented questions.
Story of a Community-Based Writing Resource – and a Call to Engage
by Ann M Blakeslee, Kristine M. Gatchel, David Boeving, and Brent Miller
Abstract: This article tells the story of YpsiWrites, a community writing resource that provides support, resources, and programs for all writers. It shows how ideas from adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy (2017) provide a generative framework for community-engaged initiatives. It uses this framework to examine the work of YpsiWrites, and, in doing so, illustrates the value of the framework for planning, carrying out, and assessing community-engaged work (CEW). The authors share responses to questions they posed to stakeholders, along with themes from those responses, which paint a more nuanced picture of the nature and potential of this work. They conclude with a call to engage and an invitation for others to use these questions as a heuristic in pursuing their own, unique community-engaged work.
Amplifying Diverse Narratives of Social Support in Online Health Design
by Shanna Cameron
Abstract: This article interrogates the competing narratives present in one online community for Asherman syndrome to highlight how certain stories about infertility/parenthood thrive in online discussions while others are suppressed or silenced. The author argues that employing a research stance centered on reproductive justice creates new possibilities for coalition building across differences in community-engaged research design. As reproductive justice frameworks aim to protect all reproductive freedoms, these methods eschew cohesive narratives and instead prioritize amplifying diverse patient voices. The article concludes with patient recommendations for communication design interventions to improve user experience with social support online.
Tracing the Development and Circulation of a Tool for Coalitional Change
by Kristen R. Moore and Erica M. Stone
Abstract: This experience report describes the origin story and use journey of a visual tool for community engagement and organizational change work. We articulate the tool (i.e., the pyramid) as a theoretical framework and demonstrate how the tool has been used to intervene in organizations, engage coalitions, and mitigate risks as we move towards a more socially just future. It is both all about community-engaged research and also not about it at all: we built it in and with communities and coalitions and we have also brought it to communities and coalitions, adopted it, adapted it, and reinvented uses for it. By tracing its development and circulation, we are both documenting its past and present use cases and offering it up as a tool for others to adopt and adapt.