Sadly, we have run out of print copies of this toolkit to mail out but you can still download a pdf version here, or view the web version here.
Transformative research refers to a wide range of processes where people center their lived experience and visions for social transformation, lead a process that systematically builds on this knowledge through investigation and learning rooted in their own ways of knowing, and take action to influence public narratives, policies, and power dynamics. It's also known as participatory action research, strategic research, community-based research, and by other names.
This toolkit is available to read online and download as a PDF, but for a limited time we are offering to mail beautiful hard copies to people who will put it to use. The toolkit is intended for cultural workers, organizers, and community leaders, and is designed to support change strategies that involve community organizing, cultural strategy, popular education, or other processes that center local community knowledge.
Here is a short overview of what's in the toolkit. In the first section, Reclaiming Research, we name the harm that’s been done and offer a list of questions to facilitate conversations on the harm of research. The section then turns to concepts and questions for centering community knowledge and building on people’s own ways of surviving and thriving.
In the second section, Cultural Strategy and Transformative Research, we turn to collaboration with artists and cultural practitioners that broadens ways of knowing to include the knowledge generated through creative and cultural practices. We outline how weaving in cultural strategy strengthens the reach, resonance, rigor, and regenerative potential of transformative research and may also require a shift in the role of the artist.
In the third section, Principles and Frameworks for Transformative Research, we include several principles and frameworks adapted from other practitioners and some of our own. These are core concepts for thinking about an overall research process and situating it in your communities’ values, context, and goals.
In the fourth section, Planning Your Research Process, we break down the research process into six phases and describe the decisions, resources, questions, and tips you may want to consider in each phase. This can be used to develop your work plan for a transformative research process, which will include the roles, relationships, planning, and activities you will carry out.
The final section of the toolkit, Research Methods, is a deep dive into eight empirical methods for generating knowledge as part of a transformative research process: power analysis, interviews, focus groups and structured discussion, surveys, policy analysis, mapping and spatial analysis, archival research, and ancestral ceremonies. For each method, we give an example of what it can look like, how it’s done, what type of knowledge it can generate, how you can build relationships and people power, what roles and resources are needed, and how cultural strategy can be woven into the process. At the end there is a Glossary with definitions for a bunch of words related to the work.
