Reciprocity+in+community+engagement

**Reciprocity in community engagement: Implications of a concept analysis for research** Lina Dostilio, Ed.D. Candidate & Director of Academic Community Engagement, Duquesne University [dostiliol@duq.edu] Kathleen Edwards, Ph.D. Candidate, University of North Carolina at Greensboro [keedwar2@uncg.edu] Barbara Harrison, Ph.D. Candidate, Brock University [barbara.a.harrison@gmail.com] Brandon Kliewer, Ph.D., Civic Engagement Post-Doctoral Associate, University of Georgia [bkliewer@uga.edu] Patti Clayton, Ph.D., Practitioner-Scholar, PHC Ventures; Senior Scholar, IUPUI; Visiting Scholar, UNCG [patti.clayton@curricularengagement.com]



**Keywords:** Reciprocity, powershift, concept review, multidisciplinary, genealogical approach

**Track:** Community partnerships and reciprocity

**Format:** Conversation hour


 * Date & time: ** Thursday 10:50-12:00
 * Location: ** Crystal Room

“Reciprocity” occupies a defining role in community engagement yet is frequently used in scholarship without definition or critical examination. For example: does reciprocity imply mutually-beneficial transactions or co-created, power-shifted partnerships, or both? Unexamined and/or unintentionally differing conceptualizations of reciprocity can lead to confusion in the field’s knowledge base while straining, even misdirecting, the community engagement practice that attempts to advance social change. The research shared in this session problematizes what seems to be a pervasive yet un-critical reliance on this concept.
 * Summary: **

We are undertaking research to develop a meaningful theoretical and empirical account of reciprocity. The concept review that frames our research agenda and the proposed session is analogous to that undertaken by Rogers (2001). Responding to a similar “lack of clarity in the deﬁnition of reﬂection, its antecedent conditions, its processes, and its identiﬁed outcomes,” Rogers engaged with ambiguity and variation in meanings of the term “reflection,” providing “in-depth analysis and synthesis of selected theoretical approaches” that sought to establish “a broad and ultimately integrated understanding of the concept” (p. 38). We will share results from a comprehensive review of the //Michigan Journal for Community Service Learning// and //Advances in Service-Learning Research// to help establish the various conceptualizations of reciprocity in the literature.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">During the session, we will incorporate an activity designed to surface various understandings of reciprocity among participants, share some of the findings of our multidisciplinary concept review as a framework for discussion, and engage in conversation around the sources and significance of various conceptualizations of reciprocity. We will collaboratively and critically reflect on the nature of recent investigations of reciprocity in community engagement partnerships, on the ways related research has been grounded in and guided by an insufficiently critical orientation toward the concept, and on opportunities for more precise operationalization of the construct in current/future research.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">**Reference:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Clayton, P., Bringle, R., Senor, B., Huq, J., & Morrison, M. (2010). Differentiating and assessing relationships in service-learning and civic engagement: Exploitative, transactional, or transformational.//Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 16//(2), 5-22.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">d'Arlach, L., Sanchez, B., & Feuer, R. (2009). Voices from the community: A case for reciprocity in service-learning. //Michigan Journal of Community Service-Learning, 16//(1), 5-16.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Daynes, G., Howell, S. L., & Lindsay, N. K. (2003). The ecosystem of partnerships: A case study of a long-term university-community partnership. //Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 8//(2), 135-150.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Driscoll, A. (2008). Carnegie’s community engagement classification: Intentions and insights. //Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 40//, 38-41. doi: 10.3200/CHNG.40.1.38-41

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Foucault, M. (1995). //Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison//. New York, NY: Vintage Books. (Orginal work published 1977).

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Henry, S. E., & Breyfogle, M. L. (2006). Toward a new framework of “server” and “served”: De(and re)constructing reciprocity in service-learning pedagogy. //International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 18//(1), 27-35.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Rogers, R. (2001). Reflection in higher education: A concept analysis. //Innovative Higher Education,// //26//, 37-57.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Jameson, J., Clayton, P., & Jaeger, A. (2010). Community engaged scholarship as mutually-transformative partnerships. In L. Harter, J. Hamel-Lambert, & J. Millesen (Eds.), //Participatory partnerships for social action and research//. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.

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 * Sarah Brackmann**- This sounds like an interesting presentation. Through which disciplinary lens are you looking at reciprocity?


 * Kathleen & Patti**: We are using a number of disciplinary and interdisciplinary "lenses" but "lenses" may not be quite the right term: we are investigating how reciprocity is conceptualized within a variety of disciplines and discourses. Each author selected one or more disciplines or discourses of particular interest or relevance, including, for example: .... some of these include: political theory, philosophy, critical theory, indigenous perspectives, leadership, physical and natural sciences. We also looked in particular at the literature of service-learning and community engagement, including through MJCSL and the Advances series.