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
Ariel Kennan
Theme Two Intro
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Jessamyn Edwards
Surviving Your UX Career in Enterprise Design
2021 • Enterprise Community
Jorge Arango
Exploding the Notebook: How to Unlock the Power of Linked Notes (2nd of 3 seminars)
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Dantley Davis
Leadership & Diversity—A Fireside Chat with Dantley Davis
2020 • Enterprise Community
Sarah Fathallah
Beyond insights: Rethinking the role of researchers as stewards of organizational wisdom
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Savannah Carlin
Don't botch the bot: Designing interactions for AI
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Samuel Proulx
Designing for Disability, Innovating for Everyone
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
Do you want to work on climate? (Climate UX Discussion Series)
2023 • Climate UX Interest Group
Alba Villamil
Stereotyped by Design: Pitfalls in Cross-Cultural User Research
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Cassandra Piester
Developing and Deploying Your Design Operations Strategy
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Mackenzie Cockram
Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Research from Discovery to Live
2022 • QuantQual Interest Group
Prabhas Pokharel
Order and Chaos: New Ways of Collaborating on Synthesis and Storytelling
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Julie Gitlin
Design as an Agent of Digital Transformation at JPMC
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Billy Carlson
Ideation tips for Product Managers
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Phil Gilbert
A Consistent Culture of Design
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Mansi Gupta
Women-Centric Research: What, Why, How
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold

More Videos

Frances Yllana

"Design ops in all we do at co forma is purpose-driven, intentional, fair, and openly equitable."

Frances Yllana

DesignOps–Leading the Path to Parity

April 27, 2023

Amy Gawronski Zuccaro

"I am always super candid about not knowing things. I say, I don't know that, but I'll figure it out."

Amy Gawronski Zuccaro

Advice for DesignOps Employee #1

September 29, 2021

Josh Clark

"We think of AI not just as a maker of stuff but as an enabler of experiences."

Josh Clark Veronika Kindred

Sentient Design: New Postures for AI-Mediated Experiences (2nd of 3 seminars)

January 29, 2025

Jen Briselli

"Complex systems are not chaos but non-deterministic due to interdependencies and autonomy within the system."

Jen Briselli

Learning is the north star: service design for adaptive capacity

November 19, 2025

Alfred Kahn

"If design isn’t moving the needle on business strategy, designers feel disempowered and are often first to be cut."

Alfred Kahn

A Seat at the Table: Making Your Team a Strategic Partner

November 29, 2023

Christopher Geison

"Product and brand are two sides of the same coin, tied together through cultural trends."

Christopher Geison

Theme 1 Intro

March 25, 2024

Dan Hill

"In Oslo, recently released prisoners maintain the bike sharing fleet, helping reintegrate them into society."

Dan Hill

Strategic design, slowdown, and the infrastructures of everyday life

April 21, 2022

Andreas Huebner

"It’s really been helpful that research supports design not just in discovery but also in validating that what we build meets customer expectations."

Andreas Huebner Amy Takata Craig Brookes

What Is It Like To Be Part of The UX Team at Compass?

March 11, 2021

Jess Greco

"Craft isn't gonna help you feel more fulfilled, influential or powerful. It cannot meet that need."

Jess Greco

Claiming your power: Practical tools for amplifying your unique voice

March 13, 2025