Two-way scientific communication in Community Engaged Geography: Best practices in collaborative research on environmental health with Native American communities.

Keywords: environmental health, equity,
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

The literature of community-based research within geography has evolved significantly, moving from traditional research paradigms to more inclusive, participatory, and ethically grounded approaches. While significant progress has been made in developing frameworks and methodologies that prioritize community needs and “empower” marginalized voices, challenges related to power dynamics, funding, and methodological adaptation remain especially when implementing. This paper examines the importance and potential of dialogue and collaboration in Environmental Health work with rural Native American communities. How can research institutions effectively communicate and implement a commitment to community-led research while addressing the impacts of precarity on collaborative relationships? To move past fraught histories of relations between research institutions and Native communities, greater emphasis must be placed on sensitivity to concerns about equity, privacy, and meaningful co-production of knowledge. Critical to the process of co-creation is a willingness to build relationships and allow partner communities to guide and facilitate the direction of research, and the institution’s ability to center research’s community benefit in the design. How is this willingness to ‘hand over the steering wheel’ communicated effectively in day-to-day work involving a variety of community stakeholders, researchers, and participants? Investigating the role of these factors in building mutual respect and subsequent research design decision-making, we look at our own research with partner communities in the American West to evaluate what best practices have emerged.