Rosenverse

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
Dave Gray
Liminal Thinking: Sense-making for systems in large organizations
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Alexis Lucio
Scaling Accessibility Through Design Systems
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Alëna Iouguina
Designing Systems at Scale
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Catt Small
What's Next for ICs: Exploring Staff and Principal Designer Roles
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Louis Rosenfeld
Opening Remarks
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold
Marisa Bernstein
It Takes GRIT: Lessons from the Small, but Mighty World of Civic Usability Testing
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Indra Klavins
A Design Ops Girl in a Dev Ops World
2019 • DesignOps Summit 2019
Gold
Ryan Matthew
Bridging Design and Code: AI-Powered Design System Integration
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Husani Oakley
Theme Three Intro
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Jamie Beck Alexander
How can you find your role in climate?
2024 • Climate UX Interest Group
Dave Hoffer
UX Job Search AMA #3 with Joanne Weaver and Dave Hoffer
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Daniel J. Rosenberg
Designing with and for Artificial Intelligence
2022 • Enterprise Community
Louis Rosenfeld
Welcome / Housekeeping
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Stephen Anderson
Puzzled? How to Coordinate Humans for Complex Challenges
2021 • Enterprise Community
Melissa Tsang
From Insights to Action: Driving Business Values through DesignOps
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Yalenka Mariën
Designing for Digital Inclusion in the Belgian Government
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold

More Videos

Ned Dwyer

"Sometimes research becomes the defacto 'talk to a customer' group, which can distance others from direct customer contact."

Ned Dwyer Emily Stewart James Wallis

The Intersection of Design and ResearchOps

September 24, 2024

Sarah Fathallah

"Discernment requires attunement to organizational culture and politics to understand how research will resonate."

Sarah Fathallah Alba Villamil

Beyond insights: Rethinking the role of researchers as stewards of organizational wisdom

March 13, 2025

Russ Unger

"Content designers make a significant difference; if the US government values content, why don’t other organizations?"

Russ Unger

Getting Out from Under Everyone: How to Escape the Paralysis of Getting Started

June 8, 2016

Paula Bach

"If we don’t respect legacy habits, we risk interrupting workflows and causing users to have a bad day."

Paula Bach

Improving Legacy Software: How Much Better Does it Have to Be?

March 11, 2022

Jackie Ho

"Growth boards helped us identify teams that hit their runway early and needed to pivot or spin down, reallocating resources strategically."

Jackie Ho

Lead Effectively While Preserving Team Autonomy with Growth Boards

January 8, 2024

Justin Entzminger

"Post-its give everyone an equal playing field, preventing dominant voices from overshadowing others in community conversations."

Justin Entzminger Terrance Smith Tracy M. Colunga Mai-Ling Garcia

Risk and Reward: How to Diversify the Field of Civic Innovators and Designers

November 17, 2022

Marc Majers

"Building in interruptions exponentially increases the accuracy of the findings."

Marc Majers Tony Turner

Interrupted UX - Add A Dose of Reality To Usability Testing

March 11, 2022

Mary-Lynne Williams

"I wanted to be in a place where I was making people feel better, not worse."

Mary-Lynne Williams

Exit Interview #4: From Product Design Leadership to Sound Healing

January 14, 2026

Megan Blocker

"Video newsletters sharing real user stories create empathy and engagement far beyond numbers and reports."

Megan Blocker Marieke McCloskey Renee Reid

Positioning insight: Structuring teams, roles and careers for a changing research landscape

March 13, 2025