Research Practices & Production of Knowledge

Our pedagogical approach challenges traditional laboratory models that have historically maintained inequitable power relationships between universities and communities. Drawing from critical studies of science and racism, our practices attempt to overturn problematic divisions between academic researchers as "knowers,” or subjects of knowledge, and community members as objects of knowledge.

Additionally, in borrowing from laboratory models, we aim to enact a more collaborative model of humanities research and teaching. In the Community Histories Lab, we create spaces where undergraduate, graduate, and community researchers learn and teach hands-on, project-based research skills and findings to decenter siloed research practices. By bringing research training outside of the humanities classroom and into a community-oriented collaborative space, we offer a mode of critical engagement with a clear apprenticeship model and practical output.

• We practice collaborative knowledge-making where students, faculty, and community members all serve as both teachers and learners
• Laboratory work integrates community expertise alongside academic scholarship
• Research questions emerge from community priorities and concerns
• Students learn to critically examine power relationships in research practices

We translate Community-Based Participatory Research methods from the sciences into humanities research and teaching by:

• Partnering with New Haven community members from project design through implementation
• Developing research protocols with community stakeholders
• Creating accessible ways to share and discuss findings and archives
• Ensuring community partners have meaningful input into how their stories and experiences are represented

Our work documenting Yale University's historical relationship with New Haven serves as a living laboratory for these approaches. Students and community members work together to:

• Uncover and analyze historical records
• Conduct oral histories
• Identify opportunities for institutional change
• Develop proposals for repair and reconciliation