Engaged scholarship and the Black Dragon of Justice

In October I went to the Outreach and Engagement Conference at Penn State and wrote about it here. As you might recall the research I'm doing for my dissertation is focused on research with community based partners. That project qualified me and my sponsoring professor to be a part of a study where we learn about engaged scholarship. Of course, then we are studied and have to reflect about our process. This weekend, I went to Athens, GA for a second meeting/training on engaged scholarship. Once again, engaged scholarship is one of those things that, despite its common sense, is not part of the traditional power structure of the academy. UGH!!

Here we go again. What is it?? More and more I'm discovering that the worldview I hold is one, while making common sense, is outside the traditional structures. This manifested in a discussion at the table about the fear of doing engaged scholarship because it is not helpful in promotion and tenure policies within certain universities. The doctoral students in the group are also concerned about their work being acceptable. This is fascinating because, I'm getting many opportunities to challenge structures that are rooted in hierarchy and the use of power to exclude other institutions and other ways knowledge is formed.

During my initiation in October of 2007, I had a new ally zoom into my life. The Black Dragon; the dragon of justice. One of the first places I saw this ally manifest in my life is with where I get my food and what food I buy to eat. I continue to try and buy food from the Farmer's Market and try to buy more organic food. However, as I reflect over the last weekend, it seems that this academic work of what I believe to be valuable scholarship is part of the work this dragon is calling me to do. Interesting huh??

As part of my stay in Athens I got to visit with Celeste and Mitch. Celeste has a blog. She is an avid knitter and of course we went to a local yarn shop, Main Street Yarns and Fibers. It was a shop in a lovely renovated barn. Of course I bought some beautiful yarn, including the lace weight yarn in the photo. Isn't it lovely?