Bridging the Gap between Academic Theory and Community Relevance: Fresh Insights from American Pragmatism

参与这项合作资助申请的四个AHRC项目都认为，学术理论本身并不是目的；相反，它们必须满足所研究社区的需求。事实上，许多学者都对为知识而推进知识的学术兴趣与学者所研究的社区的实际问题和需求之间的差距表示担忧（Kelemen and Bansal, 2002）。我们的合作是独一无二的，因为它有双重关注严谨性和相关性，并寻求推进和促进人文、艺术和社会科学领域的“实用主义议程”。这一实用主义议程植根于以杜威、詹姆斯和皮尔斯为代表的美国实用主义哲学思想流派。简而言之，美国实用主义可以被描述为一种实用的、反基础主义的哲学，它关注未来，关注改善条件，使个人在日常生活中茁壮成长。它不仅打破了理论与实践之间的人为划分，强调了知识与行动之间的联系，而且还打破了其他限制性二元论（例如，身体-心灵，主体-客体），通过一种探究过程，将知识理解为一种实践活动，将理论的价值理解为它产生的实践结果和行动（Kelemen和Rumens， 2012）。通过与我们的社区合作伙伴，我们的国际学术联系和他的社区合作伙伴一起工作，我们将反思和分享我们在推进理论方面的现有经验，以满足严谨性和相关性的双重标准。在内容和交付方式方面，该项目将从跨学科方法中受益匪浅。在实用主义哲学方法的基础上，合作利用叙事方法，戏剧方法，视觉研究，社会学理论，设计研究和社区研究。其创新的交付模式包括公开参与者会议、戏剧练习、体验工作坊、讲故事、视觉方法和众包，试图解决跨学术界和社区合作伙伴的语言翻译和文化资本问题。我们的日本合作伙伴的工作涉及到受海啸（2011年）影响的社区，以及他们应对危机的方式，这将使我们的项目受益匪浅，因为它为学术界和社区之间持续成功的合作提供了见解。清宫教授的研究重点是社区认为什么是“可操作的”知识，以及什么使知识最终具有相关性、有用性和/或实用性。作为在英国和日本举办的工作坊的成果，我们将制作两件装置作品，并将在不同的场地巡回展出。英国的装置也将前往日本。我们将在会议论文和期刊文章中传播我们的研究结果，并将我们的课程纳入参与该项目的五所大学的教学课程。

The four AHRC projects involved in this collaborative grant application share the view that academic theories are not ends in themselves; rather that they must serve the needs of the communities studied. Indeed many scholars have raised concerns about the gap between academic interests for advancing knowledge for knowledge sake and the practical problems and needs of the communities studied by academics (Kelemen and Bansal, 2002). Our collaboration is unique in that it has a dual focus on rigour and relevance and seeks to advance and promote a 'Pragmatist agenda' across the humanities, arts and social sciences. This Pragmatist agenda is rooted in the American Pragmatist philosophical school of thought represented by John Dewey, William James and Charles Peirce. Put simply, American Pragmatism may be described as a practical and anti-foundationalist philosophy that focuses on the future and is concerned with improving the conditions that enable individuals to thrive in their everyday lives. It collapses not only the artificial division between theory and practice, emphasising the link between knowledge and action, but also other restrictive dualisms (e.g. body-mind, subject-object), by a process of inquiry that understands knowledge as a practical activity and the value of theory by the practical consequences and actions it produces (Kelemen and Rumens, 2012). By working together with our community partners, our international academic link and his community partners, we will reflect upon as well as share our existing experiences about advancing theories that meet the dual criteria of rigour and relevance. The project will benefit greatly from a cross-disciplinary approach in terms of both content and mode of delivery. Underpinned by a Pragmatist philosophical approach, the collaboration taps into narrative methods, dramaturgical approaches, visual studies, sociological theories, design studies and community studies. Its innovative mode of delivery includes open participant sessions, drama exercises, experiential workshops, story telling, visual methods and crowd sourcing in an attempt to address issues of language translation and cultural capital across academics and community partners. The work of our Japanese partner which relates to and involves communities affected by the Tsunami (2011) and their way of coping with a crisis situation will benefit greatly our project by providing insights into an ongoing successful collaboration between academics and communities. Professor Kiyomiya's research focuses on what is considered 'actionable' knowledge by communities and what makes knowledge relevant, useful and/or practical at their end. We will produce two installations as a result of the workshops held in the UK and Japan that will tour various venues. The UK installation will also travel to Japan. We will disseminate our findings in conference papers and journal articles and will feed our lessons into the teaching curricula of the five universities taking part in the project.