RECLAIMING RESEARCH:
We do not
Need a Narrator
Marlesha S. Woods (she/her)
We emerge into this world with external judgements of what we will become. Our analytics are not typecast solely into our DNA but are imposed through traditionally Eurocentric thought patterns that transcribe data. This data impacts what school district receives funding, what family will become homeless, who will have the immense privilege to never fear police brutality and, among a myriad of facets, which third grade Black boy will end up in a prison cell designed for him before his conception. It also defines which infants get to die, what languages are muted and who gets to live on what land that has been dishonored through colonization? These interactions are the core of what detriment can occur when research is skewed by “interest groups” that lack the pure intrigue of uplifting people instead of preconceived notions and profit.
For humanity subjugated to less privilege through the social construct of class, race and gender, there is a fragility that many minorities have not been able to express for centuries. The exhaustive requests for Black and Brown faces to check boxes on white pages that route their employments’ fate. Stripped from the decency of being known, heard, and felt far beyond an introduction occurs. There stands accusations, disruptions of identity, and barriers that allude what and who racially identified minorities are far before acquaintance is met.
To think one knows a people group without having personal context is flawed. Furthermore, to base notions of human capital for each singular person adjacent to their superimposed stereotype is even more adverse yet, whitewashed research has infused this model to vilify humans not numbers on spreadsheets. It is the human lives that are impacted by one group predominantly, white males, communicating people studies through investigations that provide what is termed factual. One would wonder how people isolated from lived experiences can dictate how those lived experiences pan out, and have the audacity to narrate a story that they do not know. However, this oxymoron occurs all too often.
Issues of environmental justice, racial inequality, gender wage gaps, and medical racism are just a few derivatives of science based on bias.
Contrary to the dominant male gaze in literature and research, diverse community populations are expanding the concept of “proper” research, which includes taking a closer look at what directly impacts communities and how to create solutions. In many cases the solutions are created by those that have not created the problem but are burdened by it, such as the racial wealth gap. Policies and practices are now shifting across the United States and on a macro level through data justice as it explores the context lacking from colonial centered surveliencing.
Louisville has several organizations and initiatives interjecting qualitative and quantitative data led by people that have been disenfranchised or impacted through layers of inequality such as, Root Cause Research Center co-founded by principal investigators, Jessica Bellamy and Joshua Poe. RCRC has found pathways to ignite community driven research that reveals information gaps among power infrastructures and stakeholders. The center’s vision communicates, “We believe that the people most impacted by an issue are best positioned to discover the root causes and solutions of that issue. They are the ones with the firsthand experience, social context, insights, and networks that are necessary to fully unearth the whole story behind a deep-rooted problem.”
According to Dr. Monica Unseld researchers should not stifle but rather “bridge” information and policy shifts by empowering people to use their unique voices to make power-holders accountable.
Not only are diverse populations critically dissecting the complexities of research that have been removed from realities but expanding the nuance of how research is communicated. Research is a byproduct of humanity and that reflection of communication style no longer will be boasted solely through academic language or cold glares across a conference room.
An ever emerging research shift is embolden by utilizing every angle of expression to tap into the potential of what redirecting power can be. If that research is not cloaked in a suit, tie, and lab coat so be it. More impact will come from beatboxing dissertations, speaking metrics in free verse, a dance rendition pivoting every data point with more poise than a pen.
Artists from every backdrop can be engaged in communicating their narratives with a tangible, barrier-breaking aesthetic. Consider this concept as not to rewrite the metaphorical playbook but scrap the game all together. People that were once voiceless are collecting and interpreting data not primarily through case studies, but acknowledging that most often, they have been historically the “case study” and it’s time to school institutions with chapters that do not include Anti-Blackness.
In the words of Amisho Baraka Lewis
also known as Sho Baraka,
“Don't close the book
I got more to write.
You can change the
story that is my advice.
I read in color, they see Black and White.
You just saw the cover but there’s more to life.”
If traditional research will not let certain people in, communities can let their expressions of social justice out through claiming agency, autonomous from historical power-holders and antiquated research methodologies.
In most recent years research and data justice has become an outlet to not only share stories that have fallen to the margins but transform the trajectory of social and political systems, by people that were intentionally pushed out of conversations.
According to author and spoken word poet,
Samuel Hawkins II,
“We all need some
type of release.
When the pressure of life crushes the spirit that makes us unique.
Let it loose.
Let it loose like a seven years olds front tooth.”
Now more than ever minorities can reclaim what outlet will best communicate their concerns and solutions. People are not statistics. People are not projects. People are people, and they deserve to be heard.
Marlesha S. Woods (she/her) is a Louisville native, a dedicated visual artist, visual storyteller, creative placemaking strategist, writer, community researcher and visual arts educator. Pairing visual arts with advocacy Marlesha has partnered with non-profit organizations nationally within the U.S. to strengthen communities and spark vital conversations including health equity, diversity and civic rights. Her visual artistry includes wearable art, commissioned paintings including a focus on abstract expressionism intertwined with portraiture.
Connect: https://linktr.ee/Marleshart