Authentic PPIE – the (re)search for authentic engagement

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A few weeks ago I wrote a post called Pride and Prejudice where I reflected on some of the challenges I’ve encountered in the research community. Those challenges are part of the reason I applied for this research internship in the first place and why I want to pursue a Masters or Prof Doc afterwards, if I’m able to.

I shared that post with some trusted friends, and one of them spent a considerable time reflecting on what I’d written and offering some really insightful feedback. It was so good in fact, that I wanted to share it with you! They have asked me not to share their name, and I have taken only selected sections of their response to share here. I am always grateful for friends who not only support me, but are also willing to challenge me and reflect back what they see. It’s such a helpful way to grow and learn and I appreciate the time and care they offer me 🙂

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Dear Sharon,

Thank you for sharing this – it’s a good extension to part of our recent (and treasured!) walk along the seafront.

First, I quite agree!  Of course!!  Second, reading this article through the lens of my lived experience, what strikes me is that the problem of systems mitigating against working collaboratively with people who have different perspectives and of taking the time to nurture common ground through listening and mutual respect, is a universal one.  And, I call this systemic problem idolatry.  Which is probably not so helpful in most contexts, because it gets me funny looks.  But there you go.

Idolatry, why?

Because what happens is that we end up “worshipping” the system instead of the core values of love and mutual flourishing (which, in my lexicon, relates to God).  For good reasons, the researchers you mention have been shaped professionally to meet certain criteria.  Now they can only keep their (often time-bounded) jobs or progress their careers, or work on research they are passionate about by being successful within a system, and like all strong human systems, they become both victims and perpetrators of its negative aspects.  Your blog describes the perpetrator aspect, but doesn’t fully acknowledge the victim aspect. Clearly, as you say, there are some folk who are able to approach PPI with an open heart and mind, and thereby glean more meaningful contributions, and presumably go on to do better research.  But the ones who don’t?  Perhaps they have succumbed to all the performative pressures of their work environment.  Probably starting at KS1 SATS (which I think may have changed, but you get my drift) and running as a thread throughout their entire lives, with very little to combat it.

You used education as a model, but while I agree with how you describe the role of the educator, I also acknowledge there are far too many potentially good teachers who have been ground down by performance measures, curriculum pressures, classroom sizes, frontline social issues (children who have not slept, eaten, bathed, etc) and who struggle to tailor their teaching to individual needs. Most of the time, teachers recognize this is the problem of the education system – you might call it the tail wagging the dog.  But when the needs of the system become more important than those of its beneficiaries, that’s idolatry. That’s worshipping the golden calf. How on earth do we change that model? It’s radical and exhausting and vitally necessary (which is why you are who you are and do what you do!). [I’ve just reread this and would add this is one of the main evils of the PIP system for people with disabilities, and probably the penal system, and I could go on!]

My friend cited an example of a large organisation – and many could have fit equally well into the same space – where the running of the organisation and its sustainability had somehow become more important than the people in it, or the people it was supposed to benefit.

All this is to say, that while I wholeheartedly agree with your delineation of the problem I fear that as in so much of this world, the oppressed will not be liberated until the perpetrators are liberated too.  And that is one of the hardest challenges we face.  In the instance of PPI, how do you help to liberate the researchers so that they can experience transformative engagement?

I don’t have an answer to that, but I think there is one, because I am a hope-full person, and I believe you are someone who has and will continue to make a real difference in this world.

With love,

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I ws really struck by my friend’s observation that the system can make those within it, ‘both victims and perpetrators of it’s negative aspects’. That was something I had never considered before. How does that happen, I wonder? How do people lose sight of their internal values and allow so many compromises to take place, which somehow take them away from the heart of why they started this work in the first place? Am I oversimplifying it, or is it a more nuanced struggle to keep your values front-and-centre when the system puts so much pressure on you to operate in a certain way and produce certain outcomes? Alongside the ethics can of worms, I suspect this is another challenge which the research community struggles with and which I too will end up wrestling with if I progress down this path.

I’d be very interested in people’s thoughts on the matter – either the original post, or my friend’s reflections? Do send me something in the comments – I’d love to debate this further 🙂