Cultural Competence and Cultural Humility: Navigating Racialized Emotions, Class and Culture as an Outside Evaluator

• In Event: 2181 - Workshop on Integrity and Action: How to Bring Your Sociological Awareness, Theory, and Methods to Applied Settings

Abstract

How do you feel working in an applied setting where people are “different” from you? How can you negotiate racialized emotions, class and culture in conducting applied research? How do you build trust among the people you are researching and authentically connect with them? The goal of this workshop will be to have an open dialogue about how one’s race/ethnicity, gender, class and age affects our work as applied sociologists.

We’ll begin with a short case study of an evaluation I’m currently conducting of a Wage Theft Campaign, organized by a coalition of immigrant worker centers and labor union officials. I will present how I have navigated my role as an evaluator and ally with key players, including what it means to be a white professional in this setting, and how I’ve worked to build trust in the process of designing research instruments, collecting data and presenting findings. I will then facilitate a dialogue with participants about their own work, focusing on navigating racialized emotions, class and culture as an applied sociologist. I’ll draw from literature on cultural competency and cultural humility, and pose a number of key questions, including the following:

• What are some considerations when you conduct research with people who are different from you?
• How do you ensure that the research questions accurately reflect the needs of key stakeholders?
• What are ways to engage participants as contributors in the process of conducting your research project?
• If you think others make assumptions based on what you look like or how you speak, how do/can you respond/behave?
• How do you establish that you’re someone who can be trusted?

My hope is that through this discussion, participants will strengthen their awareness of these complicated issues and will develop increased confidence to navigate racialized emotions, class and culture in their work.

Author

• Mindy L. Fried, Arbor Consulting Partners