Engaging the Public in Poverty Knowledge Research

Kidan Araya, University of Washington, Department of Geography

In a recent New York Times op-ed by Nicolas Kristof named “Professors, We Need You!,” Kristof criticized academics for making themselves and their research irrelevant by their constant focusing on publishing research that is largely quantitative, theoretical, specialized and therefore more difficult for non-academics to access and understand. He also criticized academics for their lack of engagement with the public through social media and other forms of outreach. Quite expectedly, the article attracted much criticism from academics stating that they do indeed consider themselves public intellectuals by teaching at public universities and that they are many academics engaged in social media to communicate their research to the public. Despite the complexities and arguments of contributing to the debate if professors are doing enough to make their research relevant and meaningful to the public, Kristof’s assessment that many academics have largely failed to make their research relevant to the public is a valid concern. Academics should begin reprioritizing and strategizing in order to make their scholarship communicable to the public. This blog will attempt to explore the various ways academics focused on studying poverty could make their research more relevant to the public.

Academic research that explores topics which remain universal to society such as research examining the phenomena of poverty should realistically not even be a hard sell to get the public to pay attention.  Ultimately, poverty is a persistent problem in the United States and globally and considering we are all impacted by poverty in one way or another, whether we have lived in poverty, benefited off of a system that produces poverty, or encountered poverty. Hence, it is safe to assume that people are genuinely interested in what academics are saying about the prevalence of poverty and their contributions to poverty knowledge in national and international conversations on poverty. So, how can academics engage in poverty knowledge while making it relevant to the public?

Discuss and reframe the production and reproduction of poverty

Academics can greatly contribute to public conversations about poverty through their poverty knowledge research by confirming and debunking public thought on poverty. Currently, there are multiple myths, images, and stories about poverty circulating out in society with many of those pushed by politicians and organizations with their own coveted agendas. Academics could use their poverty knowledge research to contribute to public insight on poverty through evidence-based research that could debunk certain, untrue yet popular discourses. Samuel Hickey in “Rethinking Poverty Analysis from the Margins: Insights from Northern Uganda” argues that the way poverty production and reproduction is analyzed and presented directly influences the response; therefore, the way that poverty is discussed in the public sphere by multiple actors dictate the way the public views and responds to poverty. This means that academic contributions to public conversations and debates about poverty can have profound implications on the public’s views, votes, and opinions of current public policy surrounding poverty issues. Academics could provide the public with insight into the root historical causes of poverty and the political, racial, economic, social, and environmental factors that contribute to making and keeping people poor. Research centered on poverty knowledge distributed widely could alter problematic narratives of poverty; it would be much harder for the public to buy into this idea that people keep themselves in poverty through acting irresponsibly when there is research actively communicated to people that deconstructs the narrative of personal responsibility and places this narrative in a context of political construction. Imagine a widely cited image of poverty such as the welfare queen, a woman who is using public assistance and purposefully “staying poor” to continue collecting welfare and food stamps to make herself wealthy. How could academic research such as Jamie Peck, Nik Theodore, and Neil Brenner’s analysis in “Postneoliberalism and its Malcontents” of the uneven development and corporate welfare discourses of neoliberalism or Sanford Schram’s historical analysis of the political development of the social contract influence public opinion on welfare discourse in his book After Welfare? I would argue that if this sort of research was actively infused into the public conversation, whether through talking appearances on television shows, summary publications in national or state mass media or presented at community meetings and organizations, it would strongly influence public discourse around how poverty is produced and why it persists.

Disrupt the knowledge production system

“To acknowledge privilege is the first step in making it available for wider use. Each of us is blessed in some particular way, whether we recognize our blessings or not. And each one of us, somewhere in our lives, must clear a space within that blessing where she can call upon whatever resources are available to her in the name of something that must be done.” — Audre Lorde, A Burst of Light: Essays

Academics must acknowledge the privilege they have as being representatives of the most highly educated population in the world and bring their specialized expertise into public conversations about poverty. First, academics can devote to styling some of their publications and scholarship in a language which is written for people with a common knowledge in the subject and not necessarily a scholarly knowledge. Jenny Robinson in “Postcolonizing Geography: Tactics and Pitfalls” states that many disciplines in the academy in the early 20^th century such as Geography decided to focus on a more theoretical approach to scholarship which included writing research in a way that would only allow for scholars to understand and failed to lead research in a direction that universalized knowledge for all. Robinson argues that the parochial focus of research today commits “epistemic violence” by blocking out other populations from understanding academic knowledge. Writing research in a non-parochial manner that is conducive to universaling knowledge to all populations will make poverty knowledge open to the reading, understanding, and participation of non-academic persons.

Encourage underrepresented populations to actively participate

Along with the pursuit of making poverty knowledge open to the participation of non-academic persons, academics can be public intellectuals by making sure their research and teachings incorporate and reflect the racial, ethnic, class, nationality, and other types of diversity that are present in the public. In applying these lessons to the classroom, academics can assign readings from diverse scholars with different pedagogies, backgrounds, and perspectives in order to match the diversity found across classrooms today. Academics should tap into the diversity found in the academy already to better communicate and make poverty knowledge and research relevant. When students, particularly from underrepresented populations in the academy, are exposed to research written by academics that are from those communities or research focused on highlighting the cultural wealth of communities which are oftentimes framed as spaces of poverty, this effectively communicates that the knowledge, perspectives, and backgrounds of those students are valued and needed in the academy. Furthermore, this is a clear act of making academic research relevant to the public by demonstrating that their particular knowledge, perspectives, and lived experiences regarding poverty is necessary in the production of poverty knowledge. It is important to note that academics are among some of the most elite in society and most are not from impoverished or underrepresented backgrounds, therefore, the sorts of questions, ideas, and knowledge one who has lived/lives in poverty could bring to poverty knowledge research is critical and infinite. In a sense, this is related to Robinson and Doreen Massey’s statements about reworking linkages of knowledge and their critiques of the perception that knowledge should always come from the top-down to be legitimate. Cultivating scholarship to be produced within the communities that are constantly researched within poverty literature challenges those linkages by actively engaging students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds and bringing their knowledge and experiences with poverty through a “bottom up” linkage.

Offer viable solutions and alternatives to the problem of poverty

Ultimately, if academics are going to contribute their poverty knowledge through research that deconstructs, provides context, and analyzes public discourses on poverty, academics should also try to provide insight on what they think potential effective approaches and solutions could be to problems as well. The work of J.K. Gibson-Graham explore this issue by challenging academics to be open to the possibility of offering alternatives to problematic, institutionalized structures such as capitalism that are reliant on producing and reproducing poverty. Overall, I agree in their assessment that academics could stand to come from a non-skeptical and more nurturing place around alternative solutions, and I think their recommendations of encouraging academics to be active in contributing creative alternatives is universal and critical for all research, especially poverty research. There are certainly academics, such as the ones previously mentioned and the academics that currently make up the Relational Poverty Network, who engage in several of the activities mentioned above into making poverty knowledge research relevant in public conversations. Yet there are many academics who could challenge themselves more to engage in one or more of these activities to better utilize their privilege and knowledge with the intention to contribute to not just producing poverty knowledge, but contributing poverty knowledge for public use. Ultimately, I would hope that bringing academic research to a more diverse audience within a public realm could trigger participation, engagement, and activism regarding poverty around the world.

 

 

2 Responsesto “Engaging the Public in Poverty Knowledge Research”

1. Valerie says:

   March 19, 2014 at 1:29 pm

   Kidan, I hope you’re right that this would be effective, because I agree academics should be doing all the things you mention. Unfortunately, it seems as though people grab statistics out of context that fit the view they’ve already formed. Some additional answers lie with promoting understanding of the scientific method at all levels of education and integrating writing instruction into education in research disciplines. Having read plenty of horrendous neuroscience and psychology primary articles in my time, I tend to think that academic writing is more a reflection of bad writing in general rather than deliberate obfuscation. In any case, you’ve made a lot of good and necessary points here!

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2. Kidan says:

   March 19, 2014 at 2:48 pm

   Hi Valerie, thanks for the comment. I agree with promoting an understanding of the scientific method and writing. First, I think it’s a great idea you have to promote this at all levels of educational instruction which would probably make it less intimidating! Academic writing can be so intimidating and hard to understand. I think that goes hand in hand with making the academic intellectualism more approachable. If people have a general grasp of research, they are definitely less likely to read an academic article that potentially misuses data and a lot more likely to read it, call out the mishaps, question the research, maybe write a response, and ultimately, engage in a conversation with the research which is the point!

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