Cultivating Reciprocity Through Place-Based and Community-Engaged Research Methods

In keeping with the ongoing pursuit of social justice as key to technical communication, the authors examine mutual aid as a trust-building practice that exists along a continuum, arguing that the practice extends beyond the academic timeframe and groves of academe. In three case studies, the authors present examples of reciprocity as key elements to ethical and sustainable community-engaged work. The cases offer participatory frameworks that cultivate reciprocity against the constraints of policy or of standards-based thinking.