How can community-generated knowledge be used to improve environmental health decision-making and the social determinants of health? How do race, power, and privilege impact the social production of knowledge and the social production of urban space? How can the local knowledge that Black people produce be used to improve and transform social and material conditions in Black urban communities across the diaspora?
Dr. Akom addresses these questions by highlighting ways that community-generated data can be used to improve environmental health decision-making and build power and self-determination in low-income communities and communities of color. His research examines the ways that residents and everyday people in these communities organize themselves and enact resistance, agency, and political contestation. He offers a new framework, called “Streetwyze,” for joining local knowledge with professional knowledge via science and technology.
Rosa Pinter, email or call 805-893-3914