Public Engagement Day

Tuesday was Public Engagement Day at the University of Minnesota. The Cultural Wellness Center hosted a workshop on community engaged-cultural knowledge production. The underlying message within the workshop centered on sharing intellectual space withing community-campus partnerships. During the workshop, elder Atum made the point that the academic experience often results in isolation and cultural disconnection. This comment elicited a response from one African American researcher who insisted that she carried her culture within her heart and that she never felt disconnected. The two agreed to continue the conversation.

The question for today is, do you think that becoming an academic researcher results in cultural isolation/alienation and extreme individualism?

Your comments are welcome.

Cheers!

Question of the day - Research

Today's question comes from a discussion that took place during yesterday's Law and Health Policy meeting. The question is: "Where do you go for knowledge to solve problems?" The question arose from dialoging about the difference between community-based participatory research, conventional research, and the Cultural approach to research that is guided by dimensions of time and elders, and that results in personal and group transformation. One of the meeting participants lamented that "knowledge doesn't bring about behavior change." While another said that "you can't transform the self if you don't know who the self is." There was an especially invigorating comment about how conventional research, including community based participatory research, is confining and restrictive to the interplay of the intellect and the spirit - something much needed to produce well-being and transformation. We welcome your comments and opinions!

Best,Karames

Welcome to our blog

Welcome to the Cultural Wellness Center's blog. We are pleased that you have taken the time to join us in lively discussions on culture, ways of knowing, ways of thinking, human behavior and health. You will find that we will be adding new conversation and debate topics on a regular basis and we encourage you to participate.

Upcoming discussion will be on cultural interfacing and knowledge production. Please return and check for posts from us and our members.

We're looking forward to stimulating discussions and consciousness raising exchanges.

Warm regards,
Karames