Participatory Cultural Humility as Decolonial Praxis

• In Event: Transnational Decolonial Praxis From Kemet to Abya Yala: Connecting Latinx, Black, Mestizo, and Indigenous Research

Abstract

This presentation will explore the possibilities of practicing participatory cultural humility and self-reflective positionality when working with community-based organizations in educational research to support the major goal of AERA 2020 that aims to reclaim the historic possibilities of connectivity and collaboration in educational problem-solving. Informed by my personal involvement in three participatory educational studies, I argue that, to overcome the cycle of structural disconnection between researchers and the communities about whom we write, we must engage in participatory approaches to guide our positionality as educational researchers. Shifting to a participatory approach requires extensive reflections on the potential impact that our positionality can have in reproducing power relations of inequality.
This paper utilizes the Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) framework which focuses on relations between the researcher and participants who become co-researchers and collaborative problem solvers. “Researchers involved in CBPR recognize the inequalities that exist between themselves and community partners and attempt to address these inequalities by developing relationships based on trust and mutual respect and by creating an empowering process that involves open communication and sharing information, decision making power, and resources” (Israel, et al., 1998, p. 179). Based on CBPR theorists’ proposals (Minkler & Wallerstein, 2003), I documented my own reflexive process guided by the following critical questions:



● Why am I working with this community?
● Who benefits from this research?
● How can this research contribute to reducing disparities in education?
● What CBPR principles are/are not becoming visible in the research process?
This documentation evolved during three participatory studies that involved bilingual Quechua-Spanish college students striving for the promotion of Quechua in higher education; bilingual Spanish-English educators who identify themselves as transnational Mexican women; and social researchers striving for environmental justice education in Lima.
As an Andean native, Latina immigrant, mother, and educational researcher working with a population experiencing marginalization, I found that I needed to engage with decolonial cultural humility which adds awareness of colonial differences and diminishes internal colonialism between members involved in a CBPR research. While recognizing community members as the experts, I remained sensitive to the potential for their expertise being guided by colonial or decolonial ideologies due to internal colonialism.
This paper proposes the practice of participatory cultural humility to problematize the researchers’ positionality to reveal inherent possibilities or limitations of working with community organizations in a participatory research process. In sum, the practice of self-reflective positionality coupled with participatory cultural humility offers to improve the often vertical and colonizing relationship between the Academy and the Community.

Author

• Yuliana H. Kenfield, Oregon Department of Education