Rosenverse
Beyond Methods and Diversity: The Roots of Inclusion

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Beyond Methods and Diversity: The Roots of Inclusion

Gold
Tuesday, March 26, 2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Share the love for this talk
Beyond Methods and Diversity: The Roots of Inclusion
Speakers: Victor Udoewa
Link:

Summary

Most efforts at advancing research to be more inclusive focus on methods or methodologies or participation. Though helpful, those efforts have unfortunately not been sufficient for inclusion and we continue to be constrained by stronger forces which go to the root of what research means and the definition of inclusion. To be fully unconstrained and reach true inclusion we must learn to let go. Do we have the ability to do that? Let's talk about that. Join us for a half-hour of becoming undone, joyfully.

Key Insights

  • Diversity in research teams does not inherently guarantee inclusivity or counter systemic oppression.

  • Awareness of power and identity positionality often leads to feeling stuck without clear action steps.

  • Our ways of being deeply shape our epistemologies and methodologies in research.

  • Colonial Western ways of being emphasize objectification and individualism, limiting emancipatory knowledge production.

  • Indigenous knowledge systems, like those of the iBio people, view knowledge as relational and emergent from relationships.

  • Songs and oral traditions can serve as valid research methodologies tied to indigenous ways of knowing.

  • Systems of value influence which knowledge is considered legitimate or beneficial, often marginalizing community knowledge.

  • Immigrant communities bring preserved ways of being that produce measurable health and social benefits.

  • Positive deviance in communities reveals untapped local wisdom that can guide effective interventions.

  • Radical participatory research requires researchers to relinquish control and let communities define methods based on their own ways of being.

Notable Quotes

"If diversity alone made research inclusive, then police could never be anti-black because they include black officers."

"Whiteness isn’t about color; people of all colors can reinforce white supremacy."

"Awareness leads to feeling stuck because we don’t know what to do or don’t feel empowered to act."

"Our ways of being are roots that grow into ways of knowing, doing, and methods, all nourished by systems of value."

"In Western modernity, if something is not an object, it is not real research or real knowledge."

"For the iBio people, knowledge is relational, not objectified, emerging from relationships like songs."

"Songs become methodologies—the way you identify who is at the door is through the song they sing."

"Colonial ways of being, knowing, and valuing will never produce emancipatory methodologies."

"Community-rooted wisdom like the Mexican 'guana' practice reduces postpartum depression without traditional research."

"Will you learn to let go? Better yet, will you let go?"

Ask the Rosenbot
Sam Ladner
Data Exhaust and Personal Data: Learning from Consumer Products to Enhance Enterprise UX
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
PJ Buddhari
Meet Spectrum, Adobe’s Design System
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Jane Davis
Strategic Shifts and Innovations in User Research: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Kristin Skinner
Theme 2: Introduction and Provocation
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Erika Kincaid
Connecting the Dots: How to Foster Collaboration and Build a Strong Design Review Culture
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Alla Weinberg
Workers Are Sick of Change: The Cure is Psychological Safety
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
JP Allen
Navigating the UX Tool Landscape
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Jim Kalbach
Peace is waged with sticky notes: Mapping Real-World Experiences
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Bria Alexander
Day 3 Welcome
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Cheryl Platz
Demystifying Multimodal Design: The Design Practice You Didn't Know You're Doing
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Ruzanna Rozman
Getting in Flow with Your Team
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Bassel Deeb
Do More With Less: Equip and Lead Design Orgs Through Adversity
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Anne Mamaghani
How Your Organization's Generative Workshops Are Probably Going Wrong and How to Get Them Right
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Joseph Williams
Unlocking impact and influence through inclusive hiring in research
2021 • Advancing Research Community
Matt Bernius
Trauma-informed Research: A Panel Discussion
2021 • Advancing Research Community
Kelly Dern
AI as a Design Partner: How to Get the Most Out of AI Tools to Scale Your Process
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold

More Videos

Audrey Crane

"Even teams with dedicated designers sometimes have gaps because designers get pulled to other priorities."

Audrey Crane

Shadow Design–Where Else is Design Happening in Your Organization?

April 20, 2023

Joshua Graves

"Stop writing so much email and do real work."

Joshua Graves

We Need To Talk: Managing Ludicrous Requests at Work (Part 3 of 3)

May 12, 2025

Courtney Maya George

"Your people are not just resources or pawns in an organizational chess game—they are humans with fears and hopes."

Courtney Maya George

Scale Your Organization and Grow Your Designers

September 8, 2022

Reginé Gilbert

"Listen is a skill that is not emphasized enough in leadership."

Reginé Gilbert

Asking the Right Questions: Life, Hope and Moving Forward During the Pandemic

June 10, 2022

Stephen Anderson

"Specialists would rather share their toothbrush than their language."

Stephen Anderson

Puzzled? How to Coordinate Humans for Complex Challenges

May 27, 2021

Matt Bernius

"You can't heal your way out of death or oppression by reforming oppressive systems; you can only do so by dismantling those systems."

Matt Bernius Sarah Fathallah Hera Hussain Jessica Zéroual-Kara

Trauma-informed Research: A Panel Discussion

October 7, 2021

Saara Kamppari-Miller

"It’s not about the diagram, it’s about the dialogue."

Saara Kamppari-Miller

"Prototype" vs "Prototype"--Breaking Down and Rebuilding Our Understanding of What We Do

October 24, 2019

Karen McGrane

"Trying to map all possible connotations and context in language is mind-bogglingly computationally expensive."

Karen McGrane Jeff Eaton

AI for Information Architects: Are the robots coming for our jobs?

November 21, 2024

Scher Foord

"Trust is hard to find but essential; we hire smart people so let’s all trust and move forward."

Scher Foord Corey Greenltch Sarah Rowe

Turn the Ship Around: How to Apply Design Thinking Across Your Organization

June 10, 2021