Now Available: Toward Transformative Engagement Report 

In recent years, the field of community engaged scholarship (CES) has been under increasing pressure to adapt in the face of deepening socio-political and ecological crises. Today, institutions and communities committed to community engaged (CE) methodologies face ongoing, historically-rooted critical challenges that often hinder their work for transformative change.  

In response to these challenges, researchers from the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute brought together a group of scholar-practitioners and community-practitioners (people who work and collaborate between academia and community organizations) in a series of online dialogues to explore the future of transformative community engaged research and scholarship. 

These dialogues explored contributors’ perspectives and practices for transformative and/or critical community engaged scholarship through shared reflection and engaging around questions such as: 

• What constitutes the ‘critical’ aspect of critical community engagement? 
• What practices catalyze ‘transformative,’ ‘radical,’ or ‘systemic’ engagement? 
• What are the enabling factors that contribute to transformative engagement? 
• What barriers do practitioners face when intending critical or transformative change? 
• How might the field of community engagement need to evolve to address the increasingly complex societal challenges, today, and into the future? 

Through these conversations, this work uncovered an evolving set of questions, commitments, perspectives, and practices that are now reflected in Toward Transformative Engagement: Reflections and Provocations for Research Futures. This document presents themes, recommendations, perspectives and practices related to the future of the field of CES, contributors and barriers toward transformative engagement, and transformative perspectives and practices. Overall, project contributors shared a need and desire to be in deeper learning and practice with others in the field who are committed to supporting movements for social justice through their work and scholarship.  

This document is not intended to be a comprehensive study with a unified voice or message – instead, it is a snapshot in time that highlights the evolution of the field of community engaged scholarship and reflects the diverse views of the contributors.  

As one contributor explained, “research is about our shared futures, and therefore we need diverse voices and engagement to be able to contribute, inform, and shape those shared futures. This requires fostering new ways of knowing, doing, being, and collaborating; updating underlying beliefs and passions to support change in, through, and beyond institutions.”  

To reflect the diverse voices and perspectives of contributors, the Toward Transformative Engagement report includes shared provocations, direct quotes from contributors, and pop-out field notes that provide more information on the collaborative process. These include a delving into the definition of community, a collaborative reflection on the Art in a Just Recovery collaboration, and an afterword from Am Johal, former Directors of SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement and Co-Director of SFU’s Community Engaged Research Initiative. 

“Our hope is that this document acts a resource for conversation, practice, and relationship building to support community engaged scholars, practitioners, institutes, and community organizations in advancing toward transformative engagement through learning and leading together within, between, and across communities and universities.” – Joshua Cubista and Elizabeth Jackson, project conveners, facilitators, and authors.

Read Toward Transformative Engagement: Reflections and Provocations for Research Futures