2025/06/21 by Turin, Tanvir C.
#Community Engagement #Ethnic Minority #Immigrant #Inclusive #Newcomer #Participatory #Power Informed #Racialized #Transdisciplinary #Visible Minority
paper · doi:10.11575/prism/49532
Introduction: Community-engaged research (CER) entails collaborative work with individuals who possess lived experiences and are directly impacted by the issues under investigation. Undertaking research within communities introduces a distinctive dimension, where researchers' own identities assume a pivotal role in influencing interactions, perceptions, and research outcomes. In this context, distinct research identities for researchers have been acknowledged in existing literature. The conventional dichotomy of "insider" and "outsider" research identities has been established. Depending on the degree of alignment or differentiation in terms of identity, culture, experience, or affiliation with the community, a researcher can assume the role of an insider or an outsider. Approach: In this article, we recount our journey in establishing a community-engaged research program within the Bangladeshi-Canadian immigrant community in Calgary, Canada. The research team shares an affiliation with the Bangladeshi-Canadian community, consequently endowing us with an insider research identity. This article encapsulates our experience in this endeavor. Observation: Initially, we presumed that our community background would grant us a significant advantage in engaging and collaborating with community members, given our shared ethnicity, culture, and identity. Yet, as we embarked on research activities like participant recruitment, interviews, and workshops, it became evident that the community perceived us more as partial insiders from a research standpoint. Partial insider refers to individuals having some affiliation with the group under study, though insufficient to qualify as complete insiders. While the community acknowledged our insider status, they also maintained skepticism about our identity as university-affiliated researchers. Consequently, we needed to establish research relationships at the community level, transitioning from community members to researchers through genuine engagement efforts. Conclusion: We learned that being insiders of a community does not automatically guarantee immediate and active engagement for the research, as the community may have different definitions, perceptions, or expectations of insiders. We also learned that being partial insiders requires us to be aware and respectful of the diversity and complexity of communities, and to adopt a flexible and responsive approach to community engagement in research.