2019 Continuums of Service Conference

Purpose: This session examines the work of radical community engagement professionals seeking to grapple with the hegemonic nature of the service learning/community engagement (SLCE) field across multiple contexts using decolonizing theories and methodologies.
Objectives: As critical scholars and activists have provided frameworks and principles to enact emancipatory practices, the two scholars in this session explore the possibilities of decolonizing practices within the field. Through storytelling, these radical scholars seek to remake history by uncovering, reevaluating, and addressing taken for granted phenomena in service learning/community engagement that perpetuate systemic inequalities and the oppression of subaltern communities.
Partners: The scholars in this proposed session see themselves as inextricably tied to the communities and people that they are conducting research, learn, and practice alongside. Situating themselves in two different contexts, one radical scholar transforming the institution from within, the other stewarding transformation across multiple institutions as an independent consultant, both seek to employ decolonizing principles in SLCE and SLCE assessment.
Impacts: Each scholar will highlight their liberatory vision for SLCE drawing upon their lived experiences, critical theoretical knowledge and the context within which they do their work. Participants will leave with models to develop or enhance their own liberatory visions.