Sharing Authority: An Introduction

Abstract

A commitment to sharing authority is a beginning, not a destination—and the beginning of a necessarily complex, demanding process of social and self discovery. There are no easy answers or formulas and no simple lessons. (Frisch 2003, 112) What follows is an exploration into the methodology, ethics, and politics of university-community collaboration in humanities and social science research in Canada. Much has changed since the days when academics were taught that their authority was derived from distance—the more the better. The drive to include communities more meaningfully in research and, when possible, to share interpretative power is gaining traction in many disciplines. 1 Community-based research has even been encouraged by funding agencies such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), which created the Community- University Research Alliances (CURA) program in 1999, 10 years ago this year. According to its current program description, SSHRC believes that by working together as equal partners in a research endeavour, postsecondary institutions and community organizations can jointly develop new knowledge and capabilities in key areas, sharpen research priorities, provide new research training opportunities, and enhance the abil- ity of social sciences and humanities research to meet the needs of Canadian communities in the midst of change. The Community-University Research Alliances program is designed to facilitate such collaborations. (SSHRC 2008)