Decolonizing Research Partnerships With Rural Communities: Centering Subaltern Voices in Research Design

• In Event: Virtual Poster Session
  In Virtual iPresentation Only: SIG-Decolonial, Postcolonial, and Anticolonial Studies in Education Virtual Poster Session

Abstract

Rural communities, which include indigenous, black and peasant populations, continue to endure marginalization and discrimination that exacerbate social, economic and educational inequity. Despite a wealth of research addressing these disparities, many efforts operate under a deficit model, driven by capitalist institutions eager to "fix" perceived gaps. Such top-down approaches often misrepresent these communities as deficient, imposing solutions that overlook local knowledges.
This proposal outlines a collaborative research methodology developed in partnership with members of a rural community in Colombia. By equitably placing participants' contributions alongside those of researchers, this study addresses epistemic erasure and deficit-oriented models that have historically harmed racialized and marginalized communities. The findings contribute to decolonizing research that aims to restore and value non-hegemonic cultural knowledge systems

Author

• Tatiana Becerra Posada, McGill University