When Can I Study My Own Community? Posted on March 19, 2007 The decision of when and how to focus on research in minority communities is a common struggle, explains Teresa D. LaFromboise (bio).

I think a question that people have is about whether or not especially if they're a student or a new professional of color, whether they should be doing research in their own community. And so I've had people ask me that, do you have to wait till after tenure before I can really start to study the issues that I think are important in my community?

My answer to that is, I didn't think there would be any other reason to be in the field, than to try to add to the knowledge base about in my case American Indian mental health. But I mean I never would have considered waiting until after tenure to start on it.

I think that's like almost going too far. But that seems to be a question that people struggle with. And it seems that they get a lot of messages from faculty that they shouldn't or that they should do comparative studies, looking at various ethnic groups, and to diversify and to maximize their bargaining power in terms of jobs and/or positions and I just think that that's kind of sad.

So I see students sometimes having to almost be polite to that kind of advice and almost feeling if they take it , almost feeling superficial or hypocritical but that seems to be a pressure that people go through.

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