Reading the article Liberation Practices helped me to think about community work further, and, in particular, how it connects to the work I’m doing at my site. A big theme throughout these past weeks have been the idea of community (it’s in the name of this program!), and the concept of liberation practices is no different. Collective action is emphasized, rather than individual work. I thought it was especially interesting how the people listed in the document as individuals who have engaged in liberation practices varied in terms of the identities they held, their locations, and the type of work they chose to engage in: this includes abolitionists, leaders of the independence movement, writers, poets, educators, and activists (and by no means are these types of work mutually exclusive).
Learning that liberation practices can take many forms mean that there is a variety of ways to engage in such work. Participatory action research, along with dialogue, is one such way that I feel like connects especially strongly to the work I’m doing in this program. Despite my work site mainly consisting of just two people (me and my mentor, who is the executive director of Brightmoor Artisans Collective), I’ve found that all the work I do has involved so much more than just us. From setting up farmers markets and listening in on community meetings, I’ve found that listening to community members is so crucial in understanding the main issues in the neighborhood they’ve noticed, experienced, or wish to focus on. Also, through my work, my mentor has emphasized the concept of participatory action research, highlighting the importance to me of building on work that has already been done before through documents and maps of the neighborhood. Additionally, my work is beginning to move into its next phase, which involves talking with residents and directly emailing/calling all stakeholders (including BIPOC-owned farms in Detroit and other economic or agricultural nonprofit organizations). I’ve found that many of the organizations/community members all know each other or are interconnected in some way. Even within DCERP, I’ve learned how Keep Growing Detroit and DPFLI also are sending individuals who will be involved in the stakeholder meetings, which led me to consider how so many people in Detroit work closely together.
Altogether, thinking about liberation practices, recognizing their importance, and expanding my understanding of what constitutes liberation practices are all takeaways from the article I hope to keep in my mind going forward in the program.
Hi Jessica, I enjoyed reading your post and how you were able to apply what you read to what you see every day both at your site and through the larger DCERP web. A lot of the sites where we are placed have small staffs, and I agree that this statistic can (perhaps surprisingly) be really effective for our orgs; a small staff helps us to stay close to the communities we’re serving and representing, and it helps us to maintain our individuality (though there’s some room for debate around some of the other ups and downs).
Hi Jessica! I really liked your blog post and how you connected the idea of liberation practices within the own work that you do daily. It is true that the work that we have been doing is largely focused on community, and learning/listening to the experiences and perspectives of the members.