Bridging the Gap between Academic Theory and Community Relevance: Fresh Insights from American Pragmatism

The four AHRC projects involved in this collaborative grant application share the view that academic theories are not ends in themselves; rather that they must serve the needs of the communities studied. Indeed many scholars have raised concerns about the gap between academic interests for advancing knowledge for knowledge sake and the practical problems and needs of the communities studied by academics (Kelemen and Bansal, 2002).

Our collaboration is unique in that it has a dual focus on rigour and relevance and seeks to advance and promote a 'Pragmatist agenda' across the humanities, arts and social sciences. This Pragmatist agenda is rooted in the American Pragmatist philosophical school of thought represented by John Dewey, William James and Charles Peirce. Put simply, American Pragmatism may be described as a practical and anti-foundationalist philosophy that focuses on the future and is concerned with improving the conditions that enable individuals to thrive in their everyday lives. It collapses not only the artificial division between theory and practice, emphasising the link between knowledge and action, but also other restrictive dualisms (e.g. body-mind, subject-object), by a process of inquiry that understands knowledge as a practical activity and the value of theory by the practical consequences and actions it produces (Kelemen and Rumens, 2012).

By working together with our community partners, our international academic link and his community partners, we will reflect upon as well as share our existing experiences about advancing theories that meet the dual criteria of rigour and relevance. The project will benefit greatly from a cross-disciplinary approach in terms of both content and mode of delivery. Underpinned by a Pragmatist philosophical approach, the collaboration taps into narrative methods, dramaturgical approaches, visual studies, sociological theories, design studies and community studies. Its innovative mode of delivery includes open participant sessions, drama exercises, experiential workshops, story telling, visual methods and crowd sourcing in an attempt to address issues of language translation and cultural capital across academics and community partners.

The work of our Japanese partner which relates to and involves communities affected by the Tsunami (2011) and their way of coping with a crisis situation will benefit greatly our project by providing insights into an ongoing successful collaboration between academics and communities. Professor Kiyomiya's research focuses on what is considered 'actionable' knowledge by communities and what makes knowledge relevant, useful and/or practical at their end. We will produce two installations as a result of the workshops held in the UK and Japan that will tour various venues. The UK installation will also travel to Japan. We will disseminate our findings in conference papers and journal articles and will feed our lessons into the teaching curricula of the five universities taking part in the project.

Expected areas of impact are to:

1. provide best practice guidelines for academics who engage with local communities and community based organisations (CBOs);
2. contribute to local debates about regeneration by providing a forum for academics, local communities and CBOs to discuss and reflect on how they work together and how they can enhance their contribution to society;
3. contribute to public policy debates on the 'third sector' at a local, regional and national level;
4. strengthen the economic competitiveness of the United Kingdom by helping communities become more self-reliant and resilient through the effective use of academic knowledge;
5. enhance the quality of life of individuals/communities by ensuring that academic research accounts for and permeates their day-to-day life;
6. develop creative outputs at the community level by promoting community engagement with academia and encouraging knowledge-sharing;
7. evolve effective methods for capturing community level ideas and needs, to improve targeted and sustainable solution development by Not For Profit and supporting organisations;
8. improve teaching curriculum in areas such as design and innovation, third sector management, epistemology, philosophy and research methodology;
9. demonstrate the usefulness of Pragmatism as an academic paradigm that can deal successfully with the practical problems of communities.

We will engage our beneficiaries in our project from the very beginning. We will host a two day workshop at Keele University and the New Vic Theatre. Given that participation at the workshop will be free of charge, we will attract not only established CBOs, policy makers, and academics but also career young academics, PhD students, and members of the community at large. This workshop will facilitate networking amongst different stakeholders and combine dissemination activities with more proactive aspects. Structured and improvisational activities will be used to brainstorm ideas for translating the key themes into best practice for each community group at the event. We will hold a similar event in Japan to encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas about working with communities across the two cultures.

Our project will also help CBOs understand the potential value, costs, risks, benefits, and practicalities of working more closely with local communities and academics so that they can make informed decisions. Drawing on our local and national CBOs network, there are many groups of immediate stakeholders who will benefit from this research. Based on our existing contacts, they will include Newcastle Council for Volunteering Services, Volunteering Action Stoke-on-Trent, and Staffordshire Moorlands Council for Voluntary Service along with groups of volunteers and practitioners from the New Vic Theatre, Volunteer Experience@Keele, the Stoke-on-Trent Museums, Citizens Advice Bureau Stoke-on-Trent and ELITE (Stoke-on-Trent).

In addition the Mondo Challenge Foundation, a charity focusing on education and livelihood development within deprived communities, will bring their expertise to explore the processes and resource options for capturing and interpreting needs and resilient community solutions. Such communities will become more self-reliant, as they can learn to identify and solve problems for themselves.

Creative disciplines and co-design practitioners will benefit from an improved understanding amongst CBO clients, and from the guidance reporting what works and what does not work in CBOs and similar Not For Profit organisations, e.g. small charities. Our project partner, the Glass-House Community Led Design, which has significant expertise and substantial influence in its field, will be the main gateway to attracting other beneficiaries such as Nesta and Talk About Local.