Bending the Ivory Tower: communities, health departments and academia

Author Suzanne W. Morse is fond of describing two large signs that greet tourists at the airport customs area in a small Caribbean nation: Belongers and Visitors. As health professionals and academics interested in partnering with communities, we are indeed visitors to a new world--and our effectiveness will depend in large part on our ability to demonstrate the cultural humility, authenticity and respect for the belongers' strengths and wisdom, that are so central to effective collaboration. In this Brief, the Partnership for the Public's Health provides a thoughtful look at why partnerships between communities, academics and health departments are both promising vehicles for addressing many of today's complex health and social problems, and are often fraught with difficulties along the way. New approaches to partnership are introduced, among them community-based participatory research which "turns on its head" traditional distinctions between the researchers and the researched, makes community members equal partners in co-learning, and is committed to action as a fundamental part of the research process. A central message of this Brief is to think broadly and creatively about partnerships, remembering that as professionals and academics, we often have access to many taken-for-granted resources that can be of tremendous help to local communities. Making such resources available, demonstrating our appreciation of the many gifts our community partners bring, including their rich knowledge of community history and dynamics, and above all, demonstrating humility in our visitor status, can go a long way toward helping such collaborative relationships achieve their full potential.