Nearly 20 years ago, Eve Tuck urged researchers to reconsider “damage-centered” approaches—those that document pain and “brokenness” in hopes of compelling those in power to act to remedy the suffering. Despite volumes of evidence, these narratives of brokenness have rarely yielded transformative policies; instead, they often reinforce deficit views of marginalized communities. In response, we have reexamined our own theories of change, drawing on critical frameworks and over a decade of family-centered participatory action research (FCPAR) with mothers of young children. We propose a new theory of change for scholars pursuing equity-focused systems reform in early care and education (ECE), a system that represents families’ first encounter with formal education and profoundly shapes developmental, educational, and economic outcomes. Our new theory of change is rooted in an understanding that change will take place when people can build enough power to demand it. Research has a role to play in building that power in deep partnership with those seeking their own liberation.
Vesely et al. (Thu,) studied this question.