The Institute for Community Research (ICR) announces its second international conference, Crossroads II: Community-Based Collaborative Research for Social Justice. Through interactive workshops, artistic performances, keynote speeches, film screenings, a gallery exhibit, and more, participants will explore how community-based collaborative research (CBCR) can be used to address the root causes of social injustice worldwide. Among the conference’s dozens of locally, nationally and internationally known presenters are researchers, activists, cultural leaders, funders, community members, educators, artists, and healthcare professionals, who will share their experiences in CBCR as they form new networks and generate new understanding. The conference will take place from June 7-9, 2007, at the Hartford Hilton in Hartford, CT.
Crossroads II is organized around three main themes: addressing the root causes of inequities in health, criminal justice, education, the environment, and economic development; translating and adapting science-based interventions to be effective in diverse, real-life settings; and integrating artistic and cultural expression with research. “Community-based collaborative research is so unique and important because it brings communities into the research process, while also introducing the scientific method into real-world settings,” says Margaret Weeks, Ph.D., ICR’s Executive Director. “When communities ask how research can help them in their daily lives, it pushes community-based researchers to create better, more relevant science. Likewise, research can greatly strengthen the position of community members advocating for change.” Representing many interdisciplinary approaches for promoting social justice, the conference program will especially focus on marginalized populations such as immigrants, youth, prisoners, addicts, the homeless, older adults, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. “Crossroads II will be a forum for fresh voices to be heard,” says Weeks, “as they relate to the arts, health, education, advocacy, or other issues entirely.”
Fitting with the interdisciplinary approach of the conference, organizers have planned several additional activities for those who attend. Three skill-building workshops will take place on Thursday, including sessions on geographic information software, social networking analysis, and research ethics. Also that day, participants may take a guided bus tour of Hartford – presenting concrete examples of how communities use CBCR for social justice in the arenas of health, education and the arts. Immediately after the conference opening event, participants and the general public are invited to an opening reception for the exhibit Explorations of Social and Environmental Justice Issues at the Conrad L. Mallett Galleries at Capital Community College, 960 Main St. in Hartford. On Friday and Saturday, traditional artists representing the rich cultural and ethnic heritage of southern New England will demonstrate and sell their work in the Hilton Commons. And on Friday night, participants and local community members are invited to take part in an open mic night at the Hilton’s Ballroom West. “Our program reflects the breadth and depth of the work we’ve been doing for the last 20 years,” says Dr. Weeks. “We are excited to engage people from around the world in how we can all work to promote social justice from multiple perspectives and build responses together.”
Crossroads II: Community-Based Collaborative Research for Social Justice will take place from June 7-9 at the Hartford Hilton at 315 Trumbull Street, Hartford, CT. An opening event for the conference will take place on Thursday, June 7, from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm at the Hilton, and the gallery exhibit opening reception will take place from 6:00 – 8:00 at the Conrad L. Mallett Galleries on the same evening. The gallery exhibit will be open to the public from June 1 – 30, 2007. For the most up to date conference program, please visit http://www.incommunityresearch.org/crossroadsIIconfdetprgm.htm. Conference registration, which includes meals, is available at http://www.incommunityresearch.org/crossroadsconfII.htm.
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ADDENDUM: KEYNOTE SPEAKERS AND PERFORMERS
Makani Themba-Nixon is Executive Director of The Praxis Project, a nonprofit organization helping communities use media and policy advocacy to advance health equity and justice. Current projects include Policy Advocacy on Tobacco and Health (PATH), a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative to build tobacco control policy advocacy in communities of color. Her latest book is "Making Policy, Making Change,” which examines media and policy advocacy for public health.
Michelle Fine, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Women's Studies and Urban Education at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Crafted at the intersection of feminist, critical race and social justice theory, her participatory action research projects with women in prisons and youth in schools and communities are designed toward critical social theory, community organizing and social change.
Charles R. Martinez, Jr., Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and research scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center in Eugene, Oregon and directs the OSLC Latino Research Team. His research interests include risk and protective factors in Latino families facing stressful life events, the development and evaluation of culturally specific interventions for Latino families with youngsters at risk of behavioral health problems, and minority health disparities.
Jean J. Schensul, Ph.D., is Senior Scientist and Founding Director of the Institute for Community Research. She is a medical/educational anthropologist with a background in qualitative and mixed methods research. As director of the Institute (1987 to 2004), she guided the evolution of its programs of participatory, basic, intervention, and action research, cultural conservation and support for urban artists and the ICR community gallery.
Judy Dworin founded the Judy Dworin Performance Project, Inc., the Dance Program at Trinity College, and presently co-chairs the Department of Theater and Dance there. She has received the Connecticut Governor Arts Award and the CT Dance Alliance Award for Distinguished Service. Judy has published articles in such journals as Contact Quarterly and Northeast Magazine.
John O'Neal is a writer, performer, and founder and artistic director of Junebug Productions, a nationally acclaimed touring theatre company and community development program in New Orleans. Recently he and collaborator Theresa Holden won the Ford Foundation Leadership for a Changing World Award for their work on The Color Line Project, a national story collection project about the Civil Rights Movement. He will perform at the conference’s closing reception.
Linda Goss is a storyteller in the tradition of her African and African American ancestors. Her repertoire includes folktales and original pieces developed through her methods for creating story-based performance through oral-history research with family and community members. In 1982, Linda and other storytellers created In the Tradition: National Black Storytelling Festival, which gave birth to the National Association of Black Storytellers in 1984. The title of her presentation at the conference opening event is "Waking Up the People: Storytelling in the African-American Tradition." |
