Despite a rich history of collaborative and engaged scholarship and the recent “participatory turn” in anthropology few anthropology departments train students in the philosophy or methods of collaboration. Graduate training is typically characterized by conventional classroom-based lectures and individualized projects, while participatory research is thought of as something scholars can do later in their careers. The 2013 Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) Ethnographic Field School disrupted this paradigm. The Field School used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework to train graduate students and community stakeholders in applied research methods through participation in an established community/university research partnership, examining race, racism, and health outcomes. The Field School was comprised of a racially, economically, and educationally diverse, intergenerational, multicultural, and multiethnic group of participants. Reflecting on this experience, we challenge the myth of the “lone ethnographer” and argue for a reorientation in anthropological methods training towards transdisciplinary, participatory, and collaborative ethnographic methods.
The Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) is a diverse team of academic and community members interested in examining existing health disparities and in improving the health of those experiencing social or economic disadvantage. In 2010, HEAT designed a Heart Health study to examine the causes of high blood pressure and heart disease among African Americans living in Tallahassee, Florida. The study aimed to understand how the social environment, neighborhood conditions, social relationships, experience of stress, and the stress of racism impacts health. This paper discusses the community engagement plan used to involve Tallahassee residents in a dialogue and conversation about the HEAT Heart Health (HHH) Study. Using the example of HHH, we argue for a community engagement approach that involves community residents in all processes of a research study, including the reporting of findings.
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