International Research Collaboratives
Organizers
Dr. Jennifer Balint, Dr. Annie Bunting
This new IRC will explore two key dimensions of community-engaged law and society research; the process, methods and challenges of collaborative research on justice; and innovative dissemination techniques of co-created knowledge, including theatre, art, museum exhibits, walking tours, music, and web platforms. Community-engaged or participatory action research (PAR) is an established research framework that employs principles of co-ownership and co-production of knowledge between the community and researcher, works to identify problems and solutions at the community level, values community knowledge, and creates collaborative partnerships, with a commitment to community benefits. This IRC will bring together international law and society scholars to critically interrogate this approach as a methodology of sociolegal work. The IRC will explore the following key questions: How do law and society conversations about the meaning and mechanisms of justice happen? What work needs to be done to create public conversations around justice? How do histories of colonialism and ongoing racism impact the contours of these conversations? How can community members have meaningful evaluation of the research projects? What does partnership in law and society work look like and how does law and society work take shape through partnerships and collaborations outside the academy? What does community-facing dissemination look like? How are new insights about justice generated in these meeting points?