Dr. Adeeba Deterville's
Sankofa Praxis
Episteme
(How we know what we know)
(African Human Development) We looked at the Stress Response via the lens of how it is manifested in Black people and based on our lived expereince hypothezied that the Flock response reflected our collective being (Nobles, 2015)
Psychology
(Sahku)
(Spirit Beings not Human Beings) We considered ourselves as Spirit Beings and therefore saw the need to consider the impact of stress beyond the thinking brain.
Spiritness
(Kwaida Ma'at)
(Psycho-spiritual alignment and identity) We considered the work of Ancient Kemets related to the Limbic Brain (Bynum, E.B.).
Personhood
(Ubuntu)
(Interconnectivity) We recognized the concept of Ubuntu and how this would predispose us to vicarious trauma. Risk factor while also a protective factor (DeGruy, 2017, Nunley, 2020).
Learning Objectives for JRI-CI Project!
You will learn:
(1) how to conduct self-study participatory research and
(2) how to create strategies for reducing the negative impact of racial stress affecting the San Francisco Black community.
Projects will be supervised and focused on studying racial stress in the context of social justice issues affecting the Black community (i.e., COVID, food insecurity, ecology, employment, housing insecurity, policing, educational equity, etc.).
Workshop Description
Using an African-centered worldview, each workshop will introduce you to basic training on how to conduct research in the Black community about toxic racial stress.
The unique feature of this project is that we will conduct this project for the Black community by Black community members.
There are four workshop training sections. You must attend all section trainings:
1) Surveys; Section 2) Oral History Narratives; Section 3) Focus Group; Section 4) Preparation for Research Presentations.
We’ll examine how to construct and administer a community survey questionnaire, collect oral history narratives (in-depth interviews) using Sankofa Praxis, and conduct focus groups.
We’ll read and evaluate articles and books and learn the process of conducting an African-centered research project as a cohort group. You will be assigned a JRI faculty advisor to support your success throughout this project.
Workshop Program Learning Outcomes - PLOs
●Explore the different methods of the research process
● Examine the impact of racism-racial toxic stress on the Black community using African centered research
● Conduct African-centered Participatory Action Research using surveys, oral history narratives, and focus groups within the Black community.
Two Major Take Aways
●As a result of your participation and training in these workshops:
We will learn how to do research-create research questions, collect data and report the findings that amplifies and validates what we already know to be true that the Black Community experiences Black racial stress as a result of racism.
●You will leave this project trained with new skills on how to conduct research using three distinct techniques-Survey, Oral History narratives, in-depth interviews, and focus groups that can be used in today’s marketplace.