The Community-Based PhD: Complexities and Triumphs of Conducting CBPR

by Sonya Atalay (Editor), Alexandra C. McCleary (Editor)

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) presents unique ethical and practical challenges, particularly for graduate students. This volume explores the nuanced experience of conducting CBPR as a PhD student. It explains the essential roles of developing trust and community relationships, the uncertainty in timing and direction of CBPR projects that give decision-making authority to communities, and the politics and ethical quandaries when deploying CBPR approaches—both for communities and for graduate students.

The Community-Based PhD brings together the experiences of PhD students from a range of disciplines discussing CBPR in the arts, humanities, social sciences, public health, and STEM fields. They write honestly about what worked, what didn’t, and what they learned. Essays address the impacts of extended research time frames, why specialized skill sets may be needed to develop community-driven research priorities, the value of effective relationship building with community partners, and how to understand and navigate inter- and intra-community politics.

This volume provides frameworks for approaching dilemmas that graduate student CBPR researchers face. They discuss their mistakes, document their successes, and also share painful failures and missteps, viewing them as valuable opportunities for learning and pushing the field forward. Several chapters are co-authored by community partners and provide insights from diverse community perspectives. The Community-Based PhD is essential reading for graduate students, scholars, and the faculty who mentor them in a way that truly crosses disciplinary boundaries.

Anna S. Antoniou, Amy Argenal, Sonya Atalay, Stacey Michelle Chimimba Ault, Victoria Bochniak, Megan Butler, Elias Capello, Ashley Collier-Oxandale, Samantha Cornelius, Annie Danis, Earl Davis, John Doyle, Margaret J. Eggers, Cyndy Margarita García-Weyandt, R. Neil Greene, D. Kalani Heinz, Nicole Kaechele, Myra J. Lefthand, Emily Jean Leischner, Christopher B. Lowman, Geraldine Low-Sabado, Alexandra G. Martin, Christine Martin, Alexandra McCleary, Chelsea Meloche, Bonnie Newsom, Katherine L. Nichols, Claire Novotny, Nunanta (Iris Siwallace), Reidunn H. Nygård, Francesco Ripanti, Elena Sesma, Eric Simons, Cassie Lynn Smith, Tanupreet Suri, Emery Three Irons, Arianna Trott, Cecilia I. Vasquez, Kelly D. Wiltshire, Julie Woods, Sara L. Young
 

440 pages, Paperback

Published March 15, 2022

About the author

My work is in the area of engaged (public) anthropology, particularly in community-university partnerships and utilizing community-based research methods to conduct research in full partnership with indigenous and local communities. I find value in working across disciplinary boundaries to incorporate aspects of cultural anthropology, archaeology, heritage studies, and native american and indigenous studies.

I am involved in research partnerships with Native American and Turkish communities, and include community members in all aspects of the research process, from development of research designs to grant writing, ethics and IRB review, fieldwork, analysis and mobilization of results. Research is at its best when everyday people are engaged in the work of studying, protecting and teaching about their own cultural heritage. The projects I’m involved with originate locally from within communities; they build capacity, and provide substantive benefits that contribute to community well-being.

I teach graduate and undergraduate courses that provide graduate and undergraduate students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience partnering with communities to identify research needs and the core tribal and community values that should be utilized as guiding principles to produce rigorous research on projects