Abstract: By reflecting on a research project involving the evaluation of a Neighborhood Association program in the Pacific Northwest, I develop a taxonomy of ethical research practices and considerations for social science researchers to use in their own critically engaged community research, ranging from institution- to researcher- to community-led practices. This paper makes visible the competing concerns of a diverse community in research processes, and suggests that hybridizing accountability practices can support ethical engagement across power differentials in pursuit of social justice. The taxonomy of practices theorized here is supported by a set of values that act as less-tangible orientations for researcher-led decision making. Practices include formal processes such as organizational and legal policies, critical self-reflection in positionality and active reflexivity, desire-based narrative and design, member checking and collaborative interpretation, and power-mitigating theories including un/ethics and elite theorizing. The values and orientations highlighted include discernment, flexibility, transparency, reciprocity, contextuality and critical iteration.
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Abstract: In his landmark book Native Science (2000), indigenous educator Gregory Cajete eloquently articulates the motivations and questions that drive this study. For Cajete, effective education of our time entails “finding heart.” Finding heart is an active process within and beyond the person. It is evident in ethically and spiritually grounded work and being that embody meaningful connection to and care for others and nature (p. 288). This article relates to the process of finding heart through sustainability education. It presents a grounded-theory-based study of aspects of sustainability education that motivate or detract from activating hope and agency among undergraduate college students. Specific aspects of conceptual and social engagement, as well as the duration of these effects, are examined in some depth, with the voices of students themselves reflecting the diversity, depth, and power of their experience. The author concludes by suggesting that generating hope and agency among students is a vitally important outcome for sustainability education as part of the larger movement for sustainability. She also suggests curriculum design considerations for effectively activating hope and agency among students.
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