The whyPAR Podcast

This podcast episode uses 3 archetypes: the doula, the smuggler and translator to explore the role that many community engaged facilitators take in navigating the institutions that they work within and for. Through the lens of these archetypes, we expand on the ways that community engaged facilitators  leverage their power or position to work towards justice and safety for the communities they are accountable to. Embodying these archetypes as a facilitator is often either a deliberate choice or a reflection of the unique gifts each facilitator carries with them.

With hosting, music, and production by Sherry Ostapovitch

In this podcast, we share moments when our facilitation plans were ruptured by unexpected challenges or situations. We discuss how we moved from through those moments and the shifts we made to adjust our practice. 

With hosting, music, and production by Sherry Ostapovitch

This podcast explores the tension between “saving” and “engaging” when working with communities. Through personal stories and reflective conversations, the Ananya Banerjee and Annie Chau discuss the risks of falling into saviourism and highlight the importance of shifting toward facilitation that empowers people and communities. The podcast poses critical questions: Are we acting as saviours or supporters? How can facilitators pass the baton to communities to lead their own change? Listeners will gain practical advice and reflections on redefining roles in community engagement to avoid reproducing the saviour industrial complex and to foster authentic, sustainable collaboration.

Hosted by Sherry Ostapovitch and Hani Sadati. Music and production by Sherry Ostapovitch

This episode features Dr. Casey Burkholder, with podcast host, Dr. Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández. In this conversation, Casey shares about her experience doing participatory visual research with queer and trans communities in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland. She also tells us about her work with teacher candidates in New Brunswick, where she thinks alongside classroom educators about sex education in schools. Casey shares valuable insights about the power of the visual, participatory archiving and dissemination practices, and research ethics when working with queer and trans participants.

Dr. Casey Burkholder is an Associate Professor at the University of New Brunswick, interested in critical teacher-education, and participatory visual research. In choosing a research path at the intersection of resistance&activism, gender, sexuality, DIY media-making, art production and participatory archiving, Casey engages in research for social change through participatory visual approaches to local issues with queer & trans youth, adults, elders, and pre-service teachers. She is the co-founder of the Fredericton Feminist Film Collective, and PI of Pride/Swell+.

This episode features Dr. Aditi Mehta, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Toronto, and podcast host Dr. Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández, Professor and Director of the Youth Research Lab here at OISE. Drawing on her diverse experiences conducting PAR neighbourhoods in the USA and Canada, Dr. Mehta reflects on the politics of knowledge production and dissemination within contexts of urban community development and public health. Together, they discuss the dynamics of community collaboration and partnerships, and the important distinction between participatory research and education.

Dr. Aditi Mehta is an Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Toronto and was a community-engaged learning faculty fellow at the Centre for Community Partnerships. She completed her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and was awarded the department’s most outstanding dissertation prize for her investigation of the politics of community media in post-disaster cities. Her research and pedagogy consider environmental justice, community development, technology, and how knowledge infrastructures influence policy. She was recently awarded the Social Science and Humanities Research Council Partnership Engagement Grant for her participatory action research course in which UofT students and youth living in Toronto's Regent Park neighbourhood collaborated to research local experiences of redevelopment and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This episode was hosted and directed by Ruben Gaztambide-Fernandez, produced by Qichun Zhang, and supported by Youth Research Lab assistant Madeleine Ross.