Page 204 - Mike Ratner CC - WISR Complete Dissertation - v6

Despite unprecedented access to information and diffusion of knowledge across the globe,

it has been argued that the bulk of work in mainstream psychological science still reflects and

promotes the interests of a privileged minority of people in affluent centers of the modern global

order. Compared to other social science disciplines, there are few critical voices who reflect on

the Euro-American colonial character of psychological science, particularly its relationship to

ongoing processes of domination that facilitate growth for a privileged minority but undermine

sustainability for the global majority. Moved by mounting concerns about ongoing forms of

multiple oppression (including racialized violence, economic injustice, unsustainable over-

development, and ecological damage), I then propose a special thematic Community Conversation

series and call for papers be devoted to the topic of "decolonizing reality" by CLIP EAR adherents.

However, the benefits of PALAR of action learning and research approach lets highlight

the challenges this form of inquiry poses within academic environments geared for research that

follows a more predetermined researcher-controlled trajectory. These findings are helpful for

stimulating thinking about how such challenges can be addressed to ensure that the research,

action, and knowledge created through this process actually translate into practical community

improvement. I appreciate that there can be more than one effective approach to community

engagement, and that service learning does make a valuable contribution to student learning and

development. However, research on the topic revealed there is a serious need to develop the

capacity of tertiary researchers to conduct meaningful, participatory research that promotes

sustainable social change in education communities. Community engagement from this

perspective should expand “the role of higher education from a passive producer of knowledge to

an active participant in collaborative discoveries” (Australian Universities Community

Engagement Alliance, 2018). WISR endorses the concept of community engagement for social

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