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
Helen Armstrong
Augment the Human. Interrogate the System.
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Sheryl Cababa
Integrating Systems Thinking Into Your Practice as a Designer
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Abby Covert
Stuck? Diagrams Help
2022 • DesignOps Community
Ali Jeffery
How DesignOps Helped Enable Wall Street to Work Remotely
2020 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Kyle Godbey
Non-linear service design for complex adaptive systems
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Sam Proulx
Online Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Gabrielle Verderber
Documentation Your Team Will Actually Use
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Dalia El-Shimy
So You've Got a Seat at the Table. Now What?
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Kritika Yadav
Optimizing AI Conversations: A Case Study on Personalized Shopping Assistance Frameworks
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold
Sam Proulx
Online Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold
Jen Briselli
Learning Is The Engine: Designing & Adapting in a World We Can’t Predict
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Chris Geison
What is Research Strategy?: A Panel of Research Leaders Discuss this Emergent Question
2021 • Advancing Research Community
Samuel Proulx
Invisible barriers: Why accessible service design can’t be an afterthought
2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Gold
James Chudley
Decarbonising User Journeys: How minimising enables us to do more with less
2025 • Climate UX Interest Group
Megan Blocker
Day 2 Theme Panel
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Iain McMaster
Design and Product: from Frenemy to Harmony
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold

More Videos

Catt Small

"You don’t have to become a manager or director to advance; becoming a principal IC role is equally influential."

Catt Small Micah Bennett Brian Carr Jessica Harllee

What's Next for ICs: Exploring Staff and Principal Designer Roles

February 22, 2024

Terry Buckman

"Plans are useless, but planning is everything — that’s what war gaming is about."

Terry Buckman

Wargaming (An Introduction)

August 10, 2023

Nicole Umphress

"We segment sessions into 101 and 201 tracks so people new to IBM and more experienced can both get value without being bored or overwhelmed."

Nicole Umphress

Delivering Design Education During a Global Pandemic: Lessons Learned

June 9, 2022

Daniel Gloyd

"The epidemic of isolation is tied to digital design that creates connectivity without connection."

Daniel Gloyd

Designing Warmth

February 26, 2025

Frances Yllana

"Raising the floor and the ceiling means eliminating low-value problems and empowering talent to shine creatively."

Frances Yllana Kaaren Hanson Husani Oakley Dan Olsen

DesignOps Exposed: What do our peers really think of us?

September 11, 2025

Jonathan Fairman

"Testing AI products requires longitudinal methods to see how relationships and experiences evolve."

Jonathan Fairman Kevin Johnson

Integrating generative AI into enterprise products: A case study from dscout

June 5, 2024

Yolanda Rankin

"You have to give oppressed groups tools to fight discrimination, or you leave them in a place of victimization."

Yolanda Rankin

Black Feminist Epistemology as a Critical Framework for Equitable Design

March 11, 2021

Sarit Geertjes

"We want participants to feel like part of a community and improve how we share research outcomes with them."

Sarit Geertjes

People, not Petri Dishes: Stories from a Research Recruiter

September 23, 2019

Chris Hammond

"Efficiency in design and delivery reduces energy use and thus contributes directly to sustainability gains."

Chris Hammond

Embedding sustainability into enterprise design and development: A journey towards "sustainability consciousness"

April 2, 2025