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
Gina Mendolia
Therapists, Coaches, and Grandmas: Techniques for Service Design in Complex Systems
2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Gold
Nancy Douyon
We'll Figure That Out in the Next Launch: Enterprise Tech's Nobility Complex
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Nicole Wright
Democratizing Research at HoneyBook
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
John Paul de Guzman
10k Screens Later: How We Became a Data-Driven Design Organization
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Charlotte Vorbeck
Pipeline to Civic Design
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Joerg Beringer
Scaling User Research with AI: Continuous Discovery of User Needs in Minutes
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Sam Ladner
How Research Can Drive Strategic Foresight
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Jose Coronado
From Zero to Hero
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Abby Covert
Panel: Collaboration Tools
2017 • DesignOps Summit 2017
Gold
Kevin M. Hoffman
Theme 2: Enterprise Team Journey
2019 • Enterprise Experience 2019
Gold
Jack Moffett
UX Metrics That Matter and The Future of our Design at Scale Conference: A Community Conversation
2022 • Enterprise Community
Wyatt Hayman
Global Research Panels
2020 • DesignOps Community
Andrew Webster
Scaling Design Capability: How Involved Should You Be?
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Jon Fukuda
Theme One Intro
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Melinda Belcher
Insider preview of Enterprise Experience 2020
2020 • Enterprise Community
Sam Yen
Driving Organizational Change Through Design? Do more of this and less of that
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold

More Videos

Patrizia Bertini

"Efficiency means spending less energy to get more brightness — spending fewer resources for better results."

Patrizia Bertini

DesignOps + KPIs = Measure your Impact!

January 8, 2024

David Cronin

"We didn’t have enough knowledge initially to have a strong opinion about what was good design for these users."

David Cronin

The GE Design System and Thoughts about Craft at Scale

May 13, 2015

Margot Bloomstein

"Vulnerability in communication — admitting what you don't know — is a strength that builds trust."

Margot Bloomstein

Fostering Trust in Your Brand and Beyond

March 12, 2020

Tina Weisser

"Before for me, AI was just a tool, but now these agents are running in the background and are mostly invisible, changing everything."

Tina Weisser

When AI Agents Meet Reality. Service Design Lessons from a Pilot

February 26, 2026

Alexis Lucio

"You can have a single page that’s got inaccessible, compliant, and accessible experiences all in one."

Alexis Lucio

Scaling Accessibility Through Design Systems

June 9, 2022

Chris Geison

"I present myself as simply somebody who’s on this journey to figure it out."

Chris Geison Cristen Torrey Eric Mahlstedt

What is Research Strategy?: A Panel of Research Leaders Discuss this Emergent Question

March 4, 2021

Maria Giudice

"Design is not a noun. Design is an active verb."

Maria Giudice

Remaking the Making Company: Moving from Product to Experience

June 9, 2016

Josh Clark

"AI is supposed to make things easier, but it usually comes on with some knock on problems."

Josh Clark Veronika Kindred

Sentient Design: New Design Patterns for New Experiences (3rd of 3 seminars)

February 12, 2025

Brianna Sylver

"If you’re a designer or researcher, you have a responsibility to inspire your organization to lead with greater purpose."

Brianna Sylver

Lead With Purpose

March 31, 2020