Navigating the Boundaries of Youth Violence Prevention and Reduction: Reflections on Power in Community Engaged Scholarship

Laurie Ross,Katie Byrne Katie Byrne,Jennifer Safford

doi:10.5130/ijcre.v14i2.7756

Abstract

   Community-engaged scholars grapple with power asymmetries in community-university partnerships, generally working from the assumption that deliberate practices are required to moderate the researchers’ power vis-a-vis that of the community. In this article, we suggest that this dyadic framing masks the complexity of power dynamics within communities, of which the university is just one part, and examine how power is negotiated in the boundary zones of a partnership. We use Third Generation Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a conceptual framework to analyse the structural and cultural dimensions of the boundary zone in which research, learning and action in our partnership occurred (Engeström 1996). A brief story sheds light on our boundary work which uses research and data to span, broker and shake institutional boundaries for the purpose of youth violence prevention and intervention. Our analysis illuminates the potential and limitations of our power to foster transformational change. It also allows us to show that underestimating power differentials and the diversity of values and cultures within an organisation and between a university and a community partner, and certainly across multiple institutions in the case of a cross-sector partnership, can slow down and even thwart work to address societal problems.  

Highlights

Recognising that persistent societal problems require authentic knowledge co-creation (Ramaley 2014; Saltmarsh & Hartley 2011; Wegemer et al 2020), community-engaged scholars have been compelled to grapple with power asymmetries in community-university partnerships
We suggest that this dyadic framing masks the complexity of power dynamics within communities, of which the university is just one part, and examine how power is negotiated in the boundary zones of a partnership
Our experience working in a long-term (8+ years) cross-sector initiative to reduce youth and gang violence suggests that this dyadic framing masks the complexity of power dynamics within communities of which the university is just one part

Summary

Introduction

Recognising that persistent societal problems require authentic knowledge co-creation (Ramaley 2014; Saltmarsh & Hartley 2011; Wegemer et al 2020), community-engaged scholars have been compelled to grapple with power asymmetries in community-university partnerships. Since 2016, the following had been the mission of the YVPI: The Youth Violence Prevention Initiative was founded on the mission to reduce youth violence in the city by eliminating structural racism and promoting trust, safety, healing, and opportunities for our most under-resourced youth and families This will be achieved through policy and system change that ensures equitable distribution of resources and opportunities, collaboration that breaks institutional and organisational siloes, and transparency of process and outcomes through consistent information sharing. By asking this question about the use of arrests as an indicator, the police were feeling like we were challenging their work and actions rather than focusing on the Initiative’s overall effort to reduce violence This brings us to the March 2018 meeting with the City Manager and Chief of Police and their staff. The story provides an opening to examine the nuanced ways power operates in cross-sector initiatives that involve university partners

Theorising the Boundary Zone through CHAT

Division of labour

City manager

Discussion

Conclusion