Community-Engaged Scholarship and Peer-Review

Literature about Community-Engaged Scholarship

and

Peer-Review Support Letter by the Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx' Council

Literature about Community-Engaged Scholarship

Community-engaged scholarship can be conceptualized as “scholarly work or creative activity that takes place in collaboration with community stakeholders with the explicit goal of contributing to the public good” (CCE 2022). There are several elements of community-engaged scholarship, including: shared decision-making with community partners throughout the scholarly process; collaboration with community partners to translate, implement, and disseminate findings to relevant publics; the creation of applied solutions to public issues; and peer-review through community assessment (Welch and Plaxton-Moore 2019; see also O’Meara, Eatman, and Petersen 2015).

Notably, community-engaged scholarship can take the form of traditional dissemination products (e.g., journal articles and book chapters) and it can also take the form of alternative dissemination products (e.g., advocacy materials, policy briefs and reports, workshops, digital products, and websites). These alternative activities and products are considered scholarly (Welch and Plaxton-Moore 2019:162) when they:

Are theoretically grounded and/or build on existing knowledge,
Incorporate sound and appropriate methodology that meets community aspirations and goals,
Make a significant contribution to the community and discipline through demonstrative impact, and
Are socially validated through adoption or incorporation by partner stakeholders.

Thus, community-engaged scholarship is characterized by both its process and product dimensions (Saltmarsh, Corbin, and Kehal 2021).

Community-engaged scholarship with Indigenous peoples also calls for disseminating such work with Indigenous communities. Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2012) argues that as a way of decolonizing research with Indigenous peoples, scholars must develop the principle of reciprocity and feedback into their scholarship. In other words, scholarship with Indigenous peoples should entail reporting back and sharing knowledge as a long-term commitment and collaboration (Tuhiwai Smith 2012:16; see also Leyva, Burguete, and Speed 2008; Richards and Gardner 2022).

References

Center for Community Engagement, Sam Houston State University. 2022. “Our Definitions.” Retrieved Jan. 10, 2024 (https://www.shsu.edu/academics/cce/about-the-center.html).

Leyva, Xochitl, Araceli Burguete, and Shannon Speed (eds.). 2008. Gobernar (en) la Diversidad: Experiencias Indígenas desde América Latina, Hacia la Investigación de Co-Labor. Mexico, DF: CIESAS/FLASCO-Ecuador y Guatemala.

O’Meara, KerryAnn, Timothy Eatman, and Saul Petersen. 2015. “Advancing Engaged Scholarship in Promotion and Tenure: A Roadmap and Call for Reform.” Liberal Education 101(3): 52-57.

Richards, Patricia and Jeffrey A. Gardner. 2022. “Indigenous Movements in Latin America.” In Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements, Second Edition. Edited by David Snow, Donatella della Porta, Bert Klandermans, and Doug McAdam. London: Wiley-Blackwell.

Saltmarsh, John, Gene Corbin, and Prabhdeep Singh Kehal. 2021. “Why the Evaluation of Faculty Community Engaged Scholarship Needs Clear Criteria.” Scholars: Strategy Network, November 14, 2021. Retrieved Jan. 10, 2024 (https://scholars.org).

Tuhiwai Smith, Linda. 2012. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. New York, NY: Zed Books.

Welch, Marshall and Star Plaxton-Moore. 2019. The Craft of Community Engaged Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Faculty Development. Boston, MA: Campus Compact.

Peer-Review Support Letter for Repository
by the Maya-Mam Saq Tx'otx' Council

The Repository of Socio-Political Communiqués of the Maya-Mam Saq’ Tx’otx’ Council is a living collaboration between our Indigenous Mam council (the Maya-Mam Saq’ Tx'otx' Council) and Dr. Jeffrey Adrian Gardner (Sociologist of Sam Houston State University). The project is a form of "community-engaged scholarship." The collaboration aims to contextualize the importance of select communiqués of the Maya-Mam Saq’ Tx’otx’ Council and our struggles in defense of territory.

The pueblo Mam's socio-political struggles in defense of territory are articulated in various socio-political communiqués of our Maya-Mam Saq’ Tx’otx’ Council (we are an Indigenous council located in the department of Huehuetenango, which forms part of the Maya-Mam Nation). Invaluable websites exist that address contributions from our council and other Indigenous organizations dedicated to various social, political, cultural, and environmental struggles, including sites that make important documents accessible (for which we are grateful). Nevertheless, there had not yet existed a repository focused solely on addressing the socio-political contributions of the Maya-Mam Saq’ Tx’otx’ Council and our struggles in defense of territory. For this reason, this Repository of Socio-Political Communiqués of the Maya-Mam Saq’ Tx’otx’ Council aims to make known and deepen knowledge of the social, political, cultural, and environmental struggles of the pueblo Maya-Mam through our contributions as an Indigenous council.

Our collaboration with Dr. Gardner on this project is respectful and reciprocal. We have known Dr. Gardner for more than a decade, with a good relationship with the council and whose research has been dedicated to analyzing social and political issues of the pueblo Mam. Throughout the process of this repository collaboration, the council and Dr. Gardner have participated in shared decision making. We have worked together with Dr. Gardner to identify and analyze key communiqués that demonstrate this significant work of the pueblo Mam in defending territory. The website for the digital repository was created by Dr. Gardner, who worked together with council leaders (taking into account our input) to improve the repository. Additionally, he wrote the literature review, showing the relevance of these struggles of the pueblo Mam in relation to the collective rights of Indigenous peoples and other Indigenous movements. His words in the analysis are also a contribution to the summary of council leaders (including Victor Sales, Alfonso Morales, and others). We also worked together to translate the communiqués. Dr. Gardner translated the content of the repository into English and we translated it into Toj Qyol (Mam), so the contents are available in Spanish, English, and Toj Qyol [Mam]).

We also held workshops with council leaders and Dr. Gardner to familiarize the repository (May 2024). We desire for the repository to be seen and shared among the pueblo Mam and with the broader public (the digital repository can transcend state borders—borders that even divide pueblo Mam). As such, we will share the digital repository with Mam communities and through social networks, and we will measure the impact of this repository by tracking the number of site visits.

In summary, our review of the repository (as the Maya-Mam Saq’ Tx’otx’ Council) is that it contains much value for the pueblo Mam, especially as a form of living collaborative scholarship. On behalf of the council, we are grateful for this collaboration with Dr. Gardner on the project. We believe that this repository improves and deepens the knowledge of our socio-political struggles (both historical and current) in defense of territory as the pueblo Maya-Mam.