Bending time: lessons from critical, community-engaged, liberatory research

Area of Science:

• Sociology of Education
• Critical Race Theory
• Community-Based Participatory Research

Background:

• Experiences of professors of color at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) are shaped by institutional structures.
• Scholarly commitments to social transformation and liberatory education often conflict with PWI demands.
• Grassroots organizing for educational justice highlights the need for critical analytical frameworks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the experiences of professors of color using the framework of chronopolitics and racialized time.
• To understand how commitments to emancipatory, community-driven research impact labor and teaching practices.
• To examine the juxtaposition of community-based advocacy timelines with institutional evaluation and tenure clocks.

Main Methods:

• Utilizes the theoretical framework of chronopolitics and racialized time.
• Draws on lived experiences of professors of color involved in grassroots organizing (Education for Liberation Minnesota).
• Examines individual research, advocacy contexts, and collaborative organizing efforts.

Main Results:

• Chronopolitics provides a lens to understand the tension between community-driven research rhythms and institutional surveillance.
• Participatory action research and community advocacy timelines clash with the urgency of institutional tenure clocks.
• Collaborations foster transformational learning and highlight the importance of relationship-building in emancipatory research.

Conclusions:

• Bending time through collective struggle and joy is possible within emancipatory research practices.
• Prioritizing relationship-building is crucial for scholar-activists of color's well-being and research effectiveness.
• Chronopolitics offers a valuable framework for navigating academic institutions while pursuing social transformation.