Recap: Cultural Sensitivity and Community-Engaged Research

What is cultural sensitivity and how can we forge spaces to uplift and centre the voices, experiences, and expertise of racialized communities?

That’s one of the questions that was posed during CERi’s third webinar of the Remaking the Table series which focused on an exploration of how we can strive to cultivate a collective toolkit for culturally sensitive community engaged research.

The conversation took place Feb. 17 and was facilitated by Jackie Wong, Community Strategic Initiatives Associate at CERi. She spoke with Bảo Vệ Collective co-founders Y Vy Truong, Public and Community Engagement, Mimi Nguyen, COVID-19 Project Lead and kathy thai, Design and Communications.

The trio first came together in March 2020 to create a space for people to have conversations and build resources to help sustain the health of their community. They launched bilingual Vietnamese and English resources that provided information on federally funded aid programs and centred on empowering Vietnamese youth in creating equitable communities.

They spoke about how power doesn’t manifest by itself and the importance of being aware of the historical relationships that we have with other communities prompting the question: how do communities with less power feel?

“Cultural differences and similarities are neither positive nor negative because nothing is really inherently one or another, but what is true is the fact that some communities are given more visibility than others, and when visibility and having a voice to be heard that is a privilege and a power,” said Nguyen.

They stressed the need to be aware of positionality and the power derived from that.  “[We need to] remind ourselves that people are not ornamental, they are not chess pieces, they are the core of this work,” said thai.  

Truong pointed out how the pandemic brought out social and economic inequalities that have been longstanding issues, which have led to the feelings of discomfort for many people and that we need to reflect on what is our responsibility within the system.

For Nguyen and thai, a starting point for equitable outcomes includes self-reflections on the structure of relationships, noting that everyone needs to find the energy to do culturally sensitive work and those difficult conversations are important to engage in with others.

Wong closed the session, by identifying that the focus shouldn’t be on the underserved communities, rather it should be on how shared space affects others and that we need to understand the community, so we can work together to meet their needs.