Mohan Dutta: Culture-Centered Approach

One of the most fundamental tenets of CCA is I believe the authenticity of the researcher in his/her relationship with the field site, which is tied to the fundamental premise that one needs to spend extensive amounts of time in the field, getting to know the field and making herself/himself vulnerable to participants and their stories, interacting with participants with an openness to listening to their stories, and co-creating theoretical and pragmatic entry points with cultural participants through their stories. For us as CCA researchers to co-script stories of change with participants, we need to be extensively devoted to our field sites, taking up the challenges of intense field work and sometimes when needed, placing our selves at risk so that entry points to change can be co-created with cultural participants at the margins (granted our taking up of these risks are minuscule when compared to the everydayness of the risks and threats that communities at the margins live under). ...

"The academic outsider always comes into our communities and takes." This is a sentiment that I have often heard articulated throughout my fieldwork, and beyond that, have also felt as a community member looking at many interventions that have been carried out by clueless academic experts. Later in life, as I grew into becoming a scholar within those very ranks of academe that seemed so impervious and out-of-touch, I used the term "academic tourism" to describe projects that went in and came out without really doing something meaningful for the community. This is why I hope that any project that steps out into the community begins with a clear delineation of its community-specific goals that demonstrate in tangible ways how it would first and foremost meet the needs of community members. More so, I am encouraged by examples in communities that have developed specific guidelines and measurement criteria for evaluating the meaningfulness of proposed projects. When c...