The importance of researching TOGETHER

Don’t forget the ‘with’ and ‘for’!

Abstract

In the introduction to her book Decolonizing Methodologies, Linda Tuhiwai Smith reminds us that “research is not an innocent or distant academic exercise but an activity that has something at stake and that occurs in a set of political and social conditions” (p. 5).

This statement resonates with the concerns of Babylonia, which has long examined the impact of research on civil society. For example, in our editorial marking our transition to Open Access, we had already emphasized the responsibility of researchers not only in their methodological approaches, but also in the communication of their results, as well as the role of the journal as a space of mediation between research and practice.

It was therefore only natural that we accepted the proposal by Audrey Bonvin and Michael Prusse to publish a selection of articles stemming from the conference “From Research to Practice and Vice Versa,” organized by CeDiLE in September 2024. Seeking to go beyond the traditional format of conference proceedings, the editors of this special issue invited the authors to extend their reflections by explicitly examining the links between research and practice, in light of the exchanges and debates generated during the conference.

The contributions brought together here explore these relationships through a dual dynamic: on the one hand, a “top-down” approach, attentive to how scientific results can inform action; on the other hand, a “bottom-up” approach, sensitive to the questions, needs, and resistances emerging from professional practice. This articulation invites us to conceive of research conducted with the actors concerned, and not merely on them.

This perspective seems fundamental to us, and, following Linda Tuhiwai Smith, we encourage all researchers to ask themselves, for every project, essential questions: 

For who is this study worthy and relevant? Who says so?​ What knowledge will the community gain from this study?​ To whom is the researcher accountable?​ What processes are in place to support the research, the researched, and the researcher?

While Linda Tuhiwai Smith addresses these questions from the perspective of epistemic racism—a perspective whose importance we do not in any way seek to minimize—they can also be considered from the angle of epistemic elitism: researchers are neither the sole custodians of knowledge nor of the relevance of research questions themselves. And, above all, let’s never forget that the scientific community has duties toward the communities it studies.

In the hope of contributing to these reflections and to the transformations they call for, we wish you an enjoyable read.