Collaboration of Community and University Scholars: Training in the Transformation of Research for Community Development

Abstract

Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) provides a methodology that creates mutually beneficial and equitable partnerships between researchers and community people involved in positive change. Participatory Action Research (PAR) is rooted in trust, connectivity, and reciprocity to address issues and actions that remedy inequitable social, economic, and environmental problems arising from racism rooted in structural/political imbalances. In this paper, we discuss the Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) and its affiliated six week Ethnographic Field School that trains graduate students in CBPR methodology by bringing faculty, local community activists and stakeholders, and students together for mutual learning in dynamic classroom, community, and social settings. The paper offers reflections on the experience by a student, HEAT activist, local and visiting faculty, and demonstrate how a model field school based on PAR offers an empirical approach to building capacity to address power inequities in local settings and beyond.