“Doing Double Dutch”: Becoming Attuned to Rhythms of Pathways In and Through Community Spaces

Abstract

As activists and co-researchers from the university and the Cedarwood community, we have engaged in a long-term participatory ethnography to uncover and inform the transformation of an urban community. Our research focuses on understanding relationships and pathways within and across “hubs” emerging in the neighborhood that lead to authentic and meaningful change. This paper presents our current analytic attention to the boundaries, pathways and spaces between hubs. Adopting the metaphor of “doing Double Dutch” emerging from team analysis, we develop the themes of “pathways in” as opening doors; “pathways through” as feeling the rhythms; and the learning and dexterity that energizes trajectories beyond the hubs in the neighborhood. We propose the constructs of rhythm, attunement and dexterity as conceptual and analytic tools to inform our understandings of pathways and boundaries as “hidden energies” for community development and their generative potential for learning. We conclude that stagnation is not an option.