The T Project was invited to a conference for engaging communities and collaborations in research. It was a very insightful conference, with both scholars and community leaders sharing the importance and benefits of community-based research instead of institution-based research.
Researching marginalized communities is particularly challenging, but it may offer boundless insights and possibilities. Like in leadership and business management, having a bottom up approach opens the scope and effectiveness. It will require effort and planning, but will offer a secondary objective more valuable than the primary.
A presenter gave 2 basic rules to follow when conducting research:
1. Research the most basic and fundamental information. That way, you avoid politicizing your research and limiting the reach of your work.
2. Research the good aspects. The communities are already discriminated against. Do not let your work do more harm but instead shed light into other areas.
How do you better the community? What is the impact of the research? What will you do with the research? This are things you should always consider when starting your research.
We are building up a resource centre at the Alicia Community Centre too. If you have any trans related research articles or are interested in research, please contact us.
