CfP ENTITLE conference "Decolonizing methods: disseminating research results beyond academy"

Panel proposal for the International Conference of the European Network of Political Ecology (ENTITLE) : UNDISCIPLINED ENVIRONMENTS  - Stockholm, 20-23 of March 2016

Decolonizing methods: disseminating research results beyond academy

Martina Angela Caretta, Human Geography Dept., Stockholm University

Paola Minoia, Geosciences and Geography Dept., Helsinki University 

Participatory methods are increasingly used in the social sciences. Research participants are called to make contributions to the research process by engaging through participatory methods in the creation of situated knowledge.

In this panel we go one step further: how to ensure that the knowledge gathered goes to the benefit of the local participants? It has been said that participants are often deprived of the knowledge they contributed in co-producing. Researchers take the information with them back to their universities and publish it in scientific journals and reports that are not only physically inaccessible to participants, but they are often using obscure terminology.

How do we move beyond this unjust hierarchical research relationship? How do we ensure that research results are comprehensively disseminated outside the academia? Which methods do we employ to decolonize knowledge construction and translation? How do we create spaces of inclusion for participants and research assistants in the process of reporting back research results?

We welcome contributions on (but not limited to): dissemination of results, knowledge translation, participatory processes of knowledge construction and dissemination, ethical aspects and dilemmas in communicating research results, participatory feedback sessions and member checking.

Useful references:

MacKenzie et al. 2015. Advocating beyond the academy: dilemmas of communicating relevant research results. Qualitative Research 2015, Vol. 15(1) 105–121

Whittle, R, Marion Walker, and W Medd. 2011. Suitcases, Storyboards and Newsround: Exploring Impact and Dissemination in Hull. Area 43(4): 477–487.

Oldfield, Sophie. 2008. Who’s Serving Whom? Partners, Process, and Products in Service-Learning Projects in South African Urban Geography. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 32(2): 269–285.

Fitzgerald, Tanya. 2004. Powerful Voices and Powerful Stories: Reflections on the Challenges and Dynamics of Intercultural Research. Journal of Intercultural Studies 25(3): 233–245.

Blerk, Lorraine Van, and Nicola Ansell. 2007. Participatory Feedback and Dissemination with and for Children: Reflections from Research with Young Migrants in Southern Africa. Children’s Geographies 5(3): 313–324.

Send a 200 words abstract to Martina Angela Caretta martina@humangeo.su.se and Paola Minoia paola.minoia@helsinki.fi by Wednesday 7^th October at latest.