(APS2a) The Highlights and Challenges of Community Engaged Sociology I

Community engaged research and work continues to become more mainstream within our discipline, with sociologists recognizing the ways in which community engaged projects can provide opportunities for more insightful and ethical work. This session will explore the “work” that goes on behind the scenes of community engaged sociology. Proposals were welcomed from those researching, teaching, or contributing to the community engaged space, to share insights around the challenges of these projects, the successes, and ideas for how to develop our community engaged work. Presentations which describe the process of teaching community engaged sociology or conducting a community engaged research project were encouraged. Tags: Community Engagement, Equality and Inequality

Organizer: Ashley Berard, University of Victoria; Chair: Ashley Berard, University of Victoria

Presentations

Jennifer Braun, Concordia University of Edmonton; Saira Shearer, University of Alberta

Doing community engaged research 'in a good way': learning to honour commitments to community in academic environments

This presentation will explore a Community Engaged Research project undertaken between a Sociology honors undergraduate student at The Kings University and employees of an Indigenous-serving non-profit, the Bent Arrow Healing Society in Edmonton, Alberta. The goal of this CER project was to understand and document (through field work observation) what it meant for select employees of Bent Arrow to work ‘in a good way’. The objectives of the presentation are to discuss the challenges (and successes) we encountered as teacher/supervisor and student through each step of the research process; from ethics approval to presenting the results to the community we worked with. The main challenges stemmed from our desire to do research ‘in a good way’ with our Indigenous partners while negotiating the requirements of the academic institution. The presentation will include the perspective of both the researcher supervisor and teacher (Dr. Jennifer Braun) and the student researcher (Saira Shearer) highlighting the experience of doing a CER project at a small, undergraduate teaching institution. It will delve into the particular challenges associated with conveying research through unconventional means within academia, underscoring the significance of decolonizing traditional research practices.

Sara Cumming, Sheridan College

In the Crossroads: Exploring Challenges and Opportunities in Community-Engaged Research with Nonprofits and Academia

The Community Ideas Factory is an innovative project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Councils Community and College Social Innovation Fund (SSHRC-CCSIF). This transformative initiative embraces the principles of community-engaged research by fostering a dynamic collaboration between academics, 15 diverse non-profit organizations, and the local community. The projects primary goal was to co-create a client-centric, applied, and equity, diversity, and inclusivity (EDI) informed virtual life skills program that addresses the unique needs of the community. The secondary goal was to help all 15 non-profits reduce costs with a cocreated shared life skills curriculum versus each running their own programming. The projects structure is rooted in community engagement, where academics and non-profits work hand-in-hand to develop a virtual life skills program that is not only theoretically sound but also practically relevant to the lived experiences of community members struggling with homelessness. The collaboration encompasses a range of stakeholders, including academic researchers, practitioners from non-profit organizations, and individuals from the community, ensuring a comprehensive and inclusive approach. The virtual life skills program, designed with an EDI lens, aimed to empower individuals within the community and prevent repeat bouts of homelessness by providing them with practical, applicable skills that enhance their daily lives. From financial literacy to mental health resources, the program seeks to address the diverse needs of community members, with a particular emphasis on those who are often marginalized or underrepresented. The project, however, is not without its challenges, as tensions arise between the non-profits and academics involved. Non-profit organizations are under significant pressure to deliver tangible outcomes to their funders, often measured through concrete metrics and immediate impact. On the other hand, academics are committed to conducting research that is both valid and reliable, adhering to rigorous academic standards that may not align with the fast-paced, outcome-driven expectations of non-profits. One notable tension revolves around the differing timelines and priorities of the two sectors. Non-profits, driven by the urgency of meeting immediate community needs and fulfilling funding requirements, often seek quick results. In contrast, academics emphasize the importance of methodological rigor, sometimes leading to slower research processes. Balancing these distinct timelines poses a challenge but is crucial for the projects success. Additionally, conflicting expectations regarding the definition of success and impact may arise. Non-profits, being accountable to their funders and communities, may measure success through tangible, short-term outcomes. Academics, however, may emphasize the importance of long-term impact and knowledge generation, which may not align seamlessly with the immediate needs of non-profits. Addressing these tensions requires ongoing communication, flexibility, and a shared commitment to the projects overarching goals. The Community Ideas Factory exemplifies the potential for collaboration between academia and non-profits to bridge these gaps and create a meaningful impact on community well-being. Through open dialogue and a shared understanding of each sectors priorities, the project strives to navigate these tensions, ensuring that the resulting virtual life skills program is not only academically robust but also practically effective and responsive to the needs of the community.

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Non-presenting author: Julianne DiSanto, Sheridan College

Aaron Klassen, Booth UC

Shelter U: A community-engaged, evaluative pilot with non-traditional adult learners

This paper presents the preliminary findings of a pilot project in which I engage community-based participatory methods to support the design, implementation, and evaluation of Shelter U, a program offering free university for the vulnerable in and around an inner-city emergency shelter in a Canadian prairie city. Shelter U (SU) is modeled on the Radical Humanities program developed by the sociologist, Earl Shorris (2000), also called Humanities 101 or Clemente, to counter poverty through anti-oppressive, collaborative, experiential learning. Variations include higher ed for people experiencing the effects of homelessness, returning veterans, and newcomers. However, despite commendable gains evident in its graduand’s discovery of learning and experience of social mobility, past program iterations have been shown also to limit such outcomes because of the institutional objectification of the student (Czank 2020) including by external economic influences (McNamara, Cummings, Pulis 2018). Community engaged participatory research provides a methodological framework that actively seeks to incorporate its subjects’ interpretive practice into its analysis (MacKinnon 2018). As such, community engaged sociologists take on the role of collaborator together with their subjects as members of a specific community. Considering the multiple relations making up Shelter U, a synthesized community, between the interests of my own higher educational institution, that of the emergency shelter with whose staff I will be partnering to offer courses, potential funders, and those of the non-traditional adult learners whose multiplicative vulnerable status demands serious ethical consideration, community-based research (CBR) is conducive to the pilot’s aims. In this paper, I will be highlighting community-based research insights as they have informed my strategy to this point in developing the pilot (Van de Sande and Schwartz 2017; Bird-Naytowhow et al. 2017), leading to three key considerations for further investigation framed by the local context of poverty in Winnipeg’s inner-city having to do with the following: Indigeneity, freedom of knowledge, and how a rise in precariousness at the global level may impact Radical Humanities programs going forward. Such insights include first the identification of key figures whose interests, in this case in the pilot, in turn have influenced the pilot’s design, from my own institutional interests to those of the host shelter to those of the vulnerable. Second, the creation of an advisory committee and subcommittees to help guide the pilot’s design and implementation. And third, the organization of a reading group in which anti-oppressive and decolonial pedagogies were considered and discussed for their appropriateness for the classroom (Freire 1970; Robinson 2020). Further developments include the creation of a community of instructors who are preparing innovative course design considerations such as experiential learning (Kolb 2024) and tertiary learning through the arts and music, or community-music therapy (Ansdell and DeNora 2016), and a student recruitment strategy that will allow students and shelter staff to contribute their own preliminary interests through incoming interviews. Finally, this community-engaged research allows me to sketch the outline of a theory of educational self-transformation for which the conditions of its possibility can be manipulated so as to minimize possible harms and maximize the potential for real change. Thus, my multiply mediated, collaborative approach to community-engaged sociology illustrates possibilities for sustainable social change.

Kate Butler, Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children

Youth Engagement: Disrupting the System, Making Change Happen

This paper delves into the realm of applied sociology, examining the dynamics of youth engagement in political processes in Canada. Drawing on feminist methodologies and empirical research, this paper investigates the experiences of supporting youth as they participated in the pre-sessions with government prior to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Review in 2022. I draw on my experiences as a Sociologist, and practitioner in youth work, in developing and leading civic, educational, and community-based activities for young people to allow them to illustrate their experiences as rights-holders. The analysis unfolds against the backdrop of evolving societal structures, technological advancements, and changing socio-political landscapes. Special attention is given to the role of social institutions, government policies, and community initiatives in shaping opportunities and constraints for young individuals. Additionally, the study explores the impact of digital technologies on contemporary modes of communication and the formation of youth subcultures. The impetus for this paper, and this presentation at Congress, is a project that was carried out in 2022 by the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children, of which I was the Chair and President at the time. We were hired by the Government of Canada to do engagement work with youth on what rights meant to them, and what they thought would be needed to improve the situation for young people. This paper is a reflection on the process, as well as the outcomes of this project. Through a critical examination of existing literature and fieldwork, this applied sociology study aims to inform policymakers, educators, and community leaders about effective strategies for enhancing youth engagement. By identifying key challenges and opportunities, the research contributes to the development of targeted interventions and programs aimed at fostering a more inclusive and participatory society for the youth in Canada. The findings of this study carry implications for broader discussions on social cohesion, citizenship, and the cultivation of active and informed citizens in the 21st century. This paper is relevant to the 2024 Congress theme of ‘sustaining shared futures’ because we need to find ways to better engage children and youth as rights-holders in political processes. In particular, we need to ensure that structurally vulnerable youth are included and able to share their views and experiences with the world around them.

Naomi Nichols, Trent University; Jayne Malenfant, McGill University; Thamer Linklater, Trent University, Research for Social Change Lab

Lived Experience, Solidarity, and the Arts in Participatory Research

It is increasingly accepted that research on social problems should involve the perspectives, insights, and expertise of those most directly impacted by the social problems we are studying (LEAC, 2016; Levac et al., 2022). But not all social science research paradigms are inclusive of, and responsive to, lived and living expertise. A positivist legacy in social science research reverberates as a preoccupation with generalizability and replicability which pushes researchers to manage and subdue the particularities of a study context and the subjective knowledge of the researchers involved in a study. For this reason, researchers have developed specific methodological and paradigmatic approaches for incorporating experience in research, building from the early theoretical insights of feminist (D.E. Smith, 1984; Hill-Collins, 1991), anti-colonial (Fanon, 1952), anti-oppressive (Freire, 1970), and critical race scholars (Crenshaw, Gotanda, Peller and Thomas, 1995). The result is a range of participatory (Fine et al., 2003), solidarity-based (Yarborough, 2020), and activist (G. Smith, 1990) approaches to research. We situate our own approach to social science inquiry along this trajectory, having been informed and inspired by the insights of scholars who paved the way for us. The approach we will describe in our presentation also reflects the first author’s experiences of being transformed by more than a decade of collaborative research with people (like her three co-authors) who have direct experiential knowledge of the social-political problems that have been her preoccupation: inequalities of opportunity and punishment, homelessness, educational exclusions, policing and incarceration, child welfare, and (mental) health inequities. As such, our presentation will centre methodological and relational transformations in our collective work. Together and separately, we have participated in the creation of research that centres the experiential knowledge of people who are directly impacted by social problems – and over the years we have experimented with the use of the arts to destabilize epistemic hierarches often reproduced in participatory research contexts. In doing so, we create opportunities to expand our imaginative and expressive capacities – capacities that are key to the co-creation of just futures. For example, in projects with youth, we have drawn on the visual and dramatic arts, as well as poetry and music making during team-building, research training, project evaluation, and the continued development of youth researchers’ critical social consciousnesses. Sometimes youth were invited to engage in modes of artistic expression vis-a-vis the research topic because they were unable to attend weekly meetings (e.g., because of periods of hospitalization). Youth researchers wanted to stay connected to the project and adult researchers wanted to ensure they continued to be paid. Artistic modes of engagement and expression were used intermittently – and to differing degrees – throughout these projects. Similarly, collaborative and participatory projects with a range of adult stakeholders, differently touched by the institutions and organizations we are investigating together, have involved experimentation with arts-based strategies to facilitate project development, data collection, analysis, and communication. This experimentation was initially fuelled by a desire to build team-members passions into our shared projects; but the inclusion of more arts-based modes of expression throughout the research process has been fundamentally driven by the researcher-artists (like Linklater and Narcisse) with whom Nichols and Malenfant collaborate. In our presentation we will share several ways we have infused the arts into social justice research, from project iteration to research communication. We will reflect on these experiences from our multiple perspectives: professor, graduate student, community-based researcher, person with experiential knowledge of our research foci (e.g., child welfare and homeless-serving systems), artist, advocate, activist, caregiver, partner. We conclude by centring the conference theme: challenging hate and sustaining shared futures. We observe that we undertake this work together as means of experiencing joy and offering one another care as we undertake the difficult work of researching social problems. We pursue inclusive strategies for knowledge generation and research communication because we are seeking ways to engage in collective work that builds from our varied experiences, passions, and capacities. Finding ways to continue to ground research in our diverse experience, while participating in our own consciousness raising, represents a meaningful way to build knowledge (and relationships) that resist the status quo.

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Non-presenting author: Shayana Narcisse