Models of Engaged Scholarship: An Interdisciplinary Discussion

This essay foregrounds our working group experience at UNC as a case study of the process of negotiating new meanings and methods of engaged scholarship. The process is valuable in itself, as one node of practice in a broader network of researchers constructing engaged scholarship suited to specific locations and particular urgencies. Drawing upon a series of intensive discussions among twenty to thirty faculty and graduate student participants, the essay is the culmination of a collaborative effort and an ongoing discussion. Although co-authored by four of the participants (two faculty and two graduate students), it is informed by the reflections and analyses of all of the working group participants and in all the diverse fields they represent. At the same time, the interpretation of six models of engaged scholarship, the articulation of specific themes and problematics, and the provisional conclusions presented are the authors’ findings and analyses.1 Detailed later, these three areas map the terrain of one situated discussion in hopes of furthering the dialogue on fostering greater “epistemological equity” (Lassiter 2008) in research practices and relationships. In addition to this goal, we expect the descriptions and collective comparison of the six models to be useful for introducing one or more of the models to those unfamiliar with them and for critical reflection by those involved in defining engaged scholarship in other universities and venues.