Critical Community Engaged Scholarship: A Snapshot of Current Literature and Praxis

Critical community-engaged scholarship (CES) is “a form of community-engaged scholarship that is informed by critical theory, including anti-racist and other anti-oppressive theories, asset-based understandings of community, and an explicit focus on and commitment to justice” (Community Engaged Scholarship Institute, 2019; Gordon da Cruz, 2017). Critical CES aims to address “the structural causes that underpin social issues” and to support university-community partnerships in mobilizing “knowledge that works to dismantle systemic sources of racial and social injustice” (Community Engaged Scholarship Institute, 2019; Gordon da Cruz, 2017). It transforms the traditions of knowledge generation so that community knowledge is viewed as valid and an intellectually rigorous source of learning (Peterson, 2009).

The main goal of this literature review is to critically inform and build upon the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute’s (CESI) ongoing community partnerships in research, teaching and learning, and knowledge mobilization, as well as offer a resource for others working in community engagement contexts. This review is not meant to be comprehensive, but rather a starting point and broad overview of critical theories, frameworks, and knowledge systems which may inform, deepen, and expand upon core community-engaged scholarship principles and practices.