Rethinking Education Monthly round-up
Welcome back! A slightly belated update this month due to several deadlines, pending journal articles, and heading back to school! I had the privilege of attending the fantastic Critical Participatory Action Research Summer institute, delivered by the Public Science Project, CUNY University. The Public Science Project conducts and supports participatory action research with a commitment to the significant knowledge people hold about their lives and experiences and a belief that those most intimately impacted by research should take the lead in shaping research questions, framing interpretations, and designing meaningful products and actions. They collaborate with community organizations, schools, prisons, and public institutions to design research and practice aimed at interrupting injustice. For anyone working in the public sector, academia, or international development, there is so much we can learn from their work- do check out their current and previous projects here.
- Listen to Action Research podcast :
Continuing on the research x action theme, this podcast is for anyone interested in using socially just, collaborative research methods to design effective programs. I listened to the Photovoice and Action research episode with Meagan Call-Cummings, an Assistant Professor in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. She specializes in critical, participatory, and feminist methodologies, and in the podcast, she discusses how these different theories and methods such as Photovoice inform her research design and practice.
2. Read up: Why we will no longer use the terms ‘allyship’ and ‘privilege’ in our work
2020 has pushed conversations about race, inequity, and structural oppression to the forefront, and halfway through 2021, this isn't going away. Dr. Muna Abdi shares an important read for us all to think critically about the language we read and the messages that we seek to convey. She discusses why she will not be using the terms ‘allyship’ and ‘privilege’ going forward in her work, instead opting instead for terms such as ‘solidarity and ‘structurally enabled/embedded advantage’ to shift us from oppositional framings, towards language that recognizes our interconnected experiences. I really enjoyed this article, and her call to move away from maintaining binary positions in order to understand the intersectional and relational impact of oppressive systems is something that I will reflect on in my own work and practice.
3.Watch: Critical considerations for youth agency in humanitarian settings
It is increasingly recognized that the needs and capacities of adolescents and youth are overlooked in humanitarian interventions (the reason why my PhD research focuses on forcibly displaced young people's experiences of education). This webinar, with practitioner-scholars, interrogates the lifeworlds and agency of youth in humanitarian settings and the implications for interventions.
4. Watch/Read: Reconstructing Children’s Rights Institute
From May- September, the CPC Learning Network is hosting the Reconstructing Children’s Rights Institute, an online institute about dismantling racism, neo-colonialism, and patriarchy in humanitarian and development efforts to protect children and support families. Through a multi-part series of conversations and resources for learning, information sharing, and actionable next steps. In this series of critical conversations, experts share their insights about racism, colonialism, patriarchy, and power as they affect children and families around the world
Update on Socially-Just Research Design methods course
Last month, I posted a link on Linkedin to see if there was interest in online membership, focusing on Socially Just Research Design and Practice. As a practitioner and Ph.D. researcher, for years, I couldn’t find any courses or go-to places to guide me with key resources or practical guidance around how to embed these practices into my work
I have been overwhelmed by the interest and over the past month, I have been connecting with lots of different speakers, organizations, and interested participants. In addition to weekly course modules, you will be provided with the theory, tools, and resources to embed socially- just, decolonial research and project design methods into your practice. You will have the opportunity to join a closed community of practice group to share resources, questions, and networks and access monthly guest speakers and support with your project. If you haven't already registered your interest sign up here and I will be in touch shortly with more information, including an introductory webinar.
Any thoughts, suggestions, or recommendations, please don't hesitate to drop me an email jessoddy@info.com or catch me on twitter @jess_oddy. For work inquiries, please check out my website jessoddy.com to see a range of my work and potential areas of collaboration.
