SOCI 382 - Community Engaged Research: Theory and Practice

1 unit(s)

This hands-on seminar introduces Community Engaged Research (CER) as both a social science research method and a practice of collective knowledge-making that seeks to bridge academic scholarship with community priorities, guided by principles such as reciprocity, co-learning, shared power, transparency, and accessibility. In the first half of the course, students explore the theoretical foundations of CER. Together, we examine how power, history, and context shape research relationships; critically analyze classic and contemporary examples of CER; and consider the principles and strategies that support respectful, collaborative research. Students learn to identify the risks of extractive and harmful practices and how to design approaches that foreground trust, relationship-building, and long-term impact. In the second half of the class, students, working as individuals or in teams, collaborate with community partners to conceptualize and develop a CER project proposal. Project proposals are designed with the aim of completing the project over the summer or the following academic year. The course concludes with a collective reflection, in conversation with community partners, on the opportunities and obstacles, possibilities and pitfalls, of Community Engaged Research as a participatory and democratic practice. Elizabeth Cannon, William Hoynes.

Prerequisite(s): SOCI 151 or permission of the instructors.

One 3-hour period.

Not offered in 2026/27.

Course Format: CLS