Introduction
Summer Institute: Community Based Participatory Research Institute for Health: Indigenous and Critical Methodologies
View CBPR Institute 2025 Flyer
The annual CBPR Summer Institute, PH 556, at the University of New Mexico, was launched by the Center for Participatory Research in 2010, with Public Health Program graduate credit, and co-sponsored by the Center for Social Policy, The Center for Native American Health, the College of Education Health Education Program, the Clinical Translational Science Center, and the HSC Offices of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Community Health.
CBPR, and related-Participatory Action & Community-Engaged Research, is defined as a "collaborative approach that equitably involves all partners in research…with the aim of combining knowledge and action for social change to improve health and eliminate health disparities” (Kellogg Foundation). Not simply a set of research methods, CBPR or community-engaged research (CEnR) fundamentally changes the relationship between researchers and the researched. For this Institute, we use a definition of Indigenous, as Native knowledge that is an “exercise in self-determination” (Doxtator, 2004), referring to values, beliefs, traditions, and environmental relationships that are deeply embedded within the economic, political and cultural-social contexts in which they have been developed (Ball & Simpkins, 2004; Briggs, 2005). Indigenous methodologies are “those approaches to research that privilege indigenous knowledge, voices, and experiences” (Smith 2005). Critical methodologies, grounded in Paulo Freire’s philosophy and cultural studies, are approaches to inquiry that are socially constructed, emancipatory and empowering, and seek social justice with communities.
Close to 700 individuals have been trained at the Institute, bringing in graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, faculty, researchers, community partners/researchers, academic-community teams, health professionals, scholar-activists, and others. This is an intensive co-learning institute to explore how CBPR intersects with indigenous and critical methodologies, including the challenges for academics and community members to co-construct knowledge for improved health equity. Masters students enrolled for 2 credits are expected to participate in readings, discussions, and journal writing; for 3 doctoral credits, requirements include a CBPR methodology or theory paper. Enrollment is limited to 60 participants.
The goal of this Institute is to weave together the theory and practice of CBPR with indigenous and critical methodologies through articles, presentations by community-academic partners, discussion, and self-reflection on our own research questions. Participants will gain an appreciation of CBPR's advantages and challenges, as well as the skills necessary for participating effectively in CBPR projects.
Nina Wallerstein, DrPH; Lorenda Belone, PhD, MPH; Shannon Sanchez-Youngman, PhD; Laura Parajon, MD, MPH; Elizabeth Dickson, PhD; Ethel Nicdao, PhD; Alfredo Aragon Ortiz, PhD; Tassy Parker, PhD; Venice Ceballos, CCHW; Javier Rios, MA; Doreen Bird, PhD, MPH; Prajakta Adsul, MBBS, MPH, PhD
The annual institute is a 40-hour training, offered during the UNM summer session. The dates of the institute usually start the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend, sometimes offered the week earlier, at 1 pm, through Saturday, at 2 pm. Wed-Friday times are 8:30 am-5:00 pm.
