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I'm trying to put together a project that builds truly collaborative partnerships with community groups, so that, for example, university resources and research can be applied to address local needs, whilst community members are also recognised not just as the subjects of research but as active researchers in their own right. As part of this, I want to ask the question: why do universities, in general, and university members as individuals, not engage in this sort of research more often? This is often the case amongst avowedly critical researchers. My suspicion is that the issue is in part one of material rewards (eg we're encouraged to write papers, not engage in activism; universities are more generally orientated to market based forms of partnerships etc); the culture of academia (where research is still something that accredited faculty do on 'human subjects'); an odd sort of spatial politics, were local issues are deemed less relevant than more glamorous forms of distanced politics (oppression in Tibet, for example) and/or some postmodern angst about speaking for the 'Other' I've not seen any research that really addresses these diverse issues within the academy. There's stuff on the corporatization of the University, of course, as well as Bourdieu's work. But I'm still casting about for methodology, theoretical frameworks etc. Does anyone have any leads or suggestions, please? Nick Blomley ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ N i c k B l o m l e y Associate Professor Department of Geography Simon Fraser University Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6, CANADA (604) 291-3713 (tel) (604) 291-5841 (fax) [log in to unmask] (email) http://www.sfu.ca/geography/faculty/blomley.htm %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%