By Graduate Students for Graduate Students: UMass Anthropologist Sonya Atalay Co-edits New Book Examining Community-based Participatory Research

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) presents unique ethical and practical challenges, particularly for graduate students, so who would be better to describe these challenges to graduate students than other grad students?

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In “The Community-Based PhD: Complexities and Triumphs of Conducting CBPR,” a new book co-edited by Sonya Atalay, provost professor of anthropology, doctoral students from a range of disciplines discuss using CBPR in the arts, humanities, social sciences, public health and STEM fields, writing honestly about what worked, what didn’t and what they learned.

The book of essays addresses the impacts of extended research timeframes, why specialized skill sets may be needed to develop community-driven research priorities, the value of effective relationship-building with community partners, and how to understand and navigate inter- and intra-community politics. The essays’ authors provide framework for approaching dilemmas that graduate student CBPR researchers face, discuss their mistakes, document their successes and also share painful failures and missteps, viewing them as valuable opportunities for learning and pushing the field forward.

Six of the 28 essays in the collection are authored by current or recent UMass Amherst anthropology doctoral students:

• Elias Capello, a recent Ph.D. in anthropology, is author of “Queering Community-Based Participatory Research”
• Cecilia I. Vasquez is author of “Contra-Research: Navigating the Paradoxes of Funding Community-Based Projects”
• Julie Woods, a current Ph.D. student in anthropology and UMass Repatriation Coordinator, provides “Using Protocols to Guide Community-Based Research: A Personal Journey”
• Victoria Bochniak, another current Ph.D. student in anthropology, presents “The Significance of Predissertation Field Seasons in Community-Based Participatory Research”
• Recent Ph.D. in anthropology Bonnie Newsom is author of “From THPO to Ph.D.: Indigenous Archaeologies, Shifting Social Positioning, and the Gray Space Between Emic and Etic Approaches”
• Elena Sesma, another recent Ph.D. in anthropology, is author of “Balancing Expectations and Obligations: Finding Your Way in Community-Based Archaeology”

“The Community-Based PhD” explores the nuanced experience of conducting CBPR as a Ph.D. student. The volume explains the essential roles of developing trust and community relationships, the uncertainty in timing and direction of CBPR projects that give decision-making authority to communities and the politics and ethical quandaries faced when deploying CBPR approaches—both for communities and graduate students.

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Several chapters are co-authored by community partners and provide insights from diverse community perspectives, which helps make the volume essential reading for graduate students, scholars and the faculty members who mentor them in a way that truly crosses disciplinary boundaries.

George Nicholas, editor of Being and Becoming Indigenous Archaeologists, describes “The Community-Based PhD” as “A refreshing and essential set of perspectives on community-engaged research from the next generation of archaeologists and anthropologists. This is not a ‘how-to’ volume but more a ‘this is what happens when…,’ and that is the real value here – shifting from theory to practice and the lessons learned in the process.”

“I applaud this book’s focus on graduate students’ everyday lived experiences when doing social justice and activist research with communities as well as the intricacies, accomplishments, failures, and pleasures of doing this type of research while trying to finish your Ph.D.,” says Natalia Deeb-Sossa, editor of “Community-Based Participatory Research: Testimonios from Chicana/o Studies.” “I appreciate this book’s potential to be useful to graduate students and junior faculty in community archeology.”

Atalay has two decades of experience utilizing community-based participatory methods to conduct research in partnership with Indigenous communities. The author of “Community-Based Archaeology: Research with, by and for Indigenous and Local Communities,” she co-edited the new book with Alexandra C. McCleary, tribal archaeologist for the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in Highland, California.

“The Community-Based PhD: Complexities and Triumphs of Conducting CBPR” is available for purchase in both paperback and e-book format from its publisher, The University of Arizona Press.