Equity Research Centers: Creating Countercultural Spaces for the Pursuit of Equitable Science

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Abstract

Recent years have marked a renewed focus on issues of race, generating a body of literature on the role of racism in creating and maintaining health inequities. Yet even as research has aimed to explicate the pernicious effects of racism on children and families, the ways in which our field produces scholarship are still entrenched in values and norms that inadvertently uphold racism. For example, scientific values such as positivism are rooted in whiteness, contributing to the devaluing of indigenous knowledge production. Moreover, norms in academia marginalize Black, Indigenous and other scholars of color through policies that favor white ways of learning and communicating. In other words, inequities and marginalization characterize the systems and structures within which developmental research is pursued. Equity-focused research centers, or those that prioritize equity as foundational to the center’s mission, policies and practices, have the potential to offer a powerful countercultural space for the pursuit of equitable research. This roundtable discussion will engage developmental scholars with leadership roles in equity research centers with the aim of identifying best practices for facilitating the production of equity research. Drs. Esther Calzada, Stephanie Curenton, Iheoma U. Iruka, and Shantel Meek will serve as panelists, and Dr. Stephanie Coard will serve as moderator. Overall, the goal of this roundtable discussion is to explore the promise of equity research centers as a means to challenge the inequities that characterize academia as a system and thus facilitate the production of equity-focused research.

Sub Unit

• Diversity, Equity & Social Justice

Session Organizer

• Esther J Calzada, University of Texas at Austin

Moderator

• Stephanie Irby Coard, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Panelists

• Stephanie Michelle Curenton, Boston University

• Iheoma U. Iruka, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Shantel Meek, Children's Equity Project, Arizona State University