Scholar-Practitioner Profiles

Suggested Citation

Shanker, V., Collins, I., Cruz, T. I., Lysy, C., Siegel-Garcia, D., Smith, L. (2022). The Power of Perspective: Generations of Evaluators Generating Change. [Virtual Installation]. The May 13 Group, USA.

Cultural dominance and colonization in social programs and evaluation

Dr. Anna Marie Madison

The aim of this volume is to begin discussion of some minority concerns about the impact of cultural dominance on definitions of social goals and on the measurement of their outcomes in a culturally diverse society, and about the political consequences for minorities of cultural dominance in the selection of evaluation methods. (1992)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/4GQMWIFF85M4VWRPIIYD?target=10.1002/ev.1596

The dynamics of dominant colonial culture-third-world culture interactions can be used to describe patterns of cultural dominance and subordination in this country…. Minority low-income ethnic communities are very much like third-world countries in that they are politically and economically dependent on the dominant groups for survival, yet they maintain their own core social values that guide their understanding of their living environment and their responses to the environment. (1992)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/APFMPEFPWDM8DBFGPPUB?target=10.1002/ev.1599

The legacy and lineage of African American evaluators who were responsive

Dr. Stafford Hood

As we know, more faculty of color will attract more students of color. Their presence is more likely to be viewed as evidence of receptiveness to culturally diverse research interests and commitment to mentoring culturally diverse populations as students and presumably as professionals. These factors are important for recruitment, graduation, and professionalization. These same factors would be effective if we were serious about increasing the number and participation of program evaluators of color. My personal interest for more trained African American evaluators is what they can contribute to “understanding” in the evaluation of programs serving students from this population. (1998)
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED432593.pdf

Intersectionality, white supremacy, heterosexism, Black Feminist Thought, and evaluation

Dr. Denice Ward Hood & Dr. Denice Cassaro

In our case, one of us as a white woman has access and enjoys privileges that her African American colleague does not have, based on the systemic racism (more correctly, white supremacy) that exists in our society. An additional shift occurs between us as we consider another identity. One of us as an African American heterosexual woman enjoys privileges that her white lesbian colleague does not have, based on the systemic heterosexism (another form of supremacy embedded in male supremacy, or what is more gently referred to as sexism) that exists in our society. When considering the significance of the multiple identities we all have in our lives, it is important to note that our identities are woven together and impossible to examine as purely separate entities. The lived reality of those identities defines who we are and informs how we engage and interpret the world around us. The various combinations of dominant group identities with nondominant group identities create a complex fusion of privileges, power, and disadvantages in each of our lives. (2002)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/JVQPIZAWGQIEGQTFNQHG?target=10.1002/ev.64

Cultural competence as epistemological awareness and transformation

Dr. Joan LaFrance

Evaluators who learn how to practice in a culturally competent framework have the potential for changing not only the field of evaluation but also conversations on knowledge creation, its components, and its ramifications….

Evaluators can take liberties to explore cultural epistemologies that differ from those taught in the academy if such exploration contributes to the validity and usefulness of evaluation in the context of program operations. Those evaluators who belong to the academy should also be able to bring the fruits of their explorations into the academic discourse. (2004)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/EJIRAHTKHWAECAEHGZIZ?target=10.1002/ev.114

“Diversity” as social location, extending beyond race

Geri Lynn Peak

Increase involvement of people of color at all levels of association involvement and evaluation practice, working to produce more evaluators of color, attract more AEA members of color and … expand the definition of diversity beyond color to reflect more and more of the diversity existent in the human family.

The process of recognizing, understanding and appreciating the cultural background of others as well as one’s own … stresses an appreciation of the impact of difference in social location based on the variety of demographic characteristics that describe our differences and our similarities, including race/ethnicity, gender, class/level, age, sexual orientation, religion, physical/mental ability, immigration status, language, and military experience.

There is a perceived tension between the two diversity agendas—justice and excellence. This is in part a concern that any focus away from justice will diminish momentum and, in part, it is a cultural dilemma faced by people of color—one that is often generational. Another perceived tension, a concern that promoting diverse perspectives and multiculturalism in the theory and methods of evaluation will diminish rigor, must also be considered. (2007)
Peak, G. L., Peters, L., & Fishman, S. (2007). Tracking Transformation: Evaluating the American Evaluation Association’s Building Diversity Initiative (Report of Phase I Evaluation Findings). Two Gems Consulting.

Evaluator self-awareness as seeing oneself in-relation

Dr. Hazel Symonette

Understanding how others perceive us requires moving beyond unilateral self-awareness into multilateral self-awareness in order to enhance authenticity, productivity, and excellence. Such images and judgments are culturally and contextually conditioned so the figure-ground examination of self in context is crucial. Culture is one critical context which reflects diverse socially patterned ways of knowing, doing, being, thinking, engaging. Doing this work challenges each of us to engage in dynamic assessment and evaluation at multiple levels—micro/macro scanning, monitoring, and responsive discovery and adaptation processes at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and organizational/ institutional levels….

Even more important for the viability, vitality, productivity and trust-building capacity of a transaction and relationship cultivation is multilateral self awareness: self in context and self as pivotal instrument. These foundational issues are distinct from and should precede deliberations and choices regarding methodology and strategy. (2009)
https://h-pea.org/resources/2009/HPEAConference2009_SymonetteCultivatingSelf.pdf