Authentic Communities

INSIGHTS FROM INTEGRATIVE RELATIONAL RESEARCH

A Collective Reflection from the Center for Integrative Relational Health’s Graduate Fellowship Program

The way we conduct research shapes the knowledge we produce. This is not simply a methodological concern - it is a moral one. Whenever we position communities only as subjects to be studied, and not as our partners in knowledge creation, we reproduce the very hierarchies and disconnections we aim to address.

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This article is based on a ten-week summer graduate research fellowship at the Center for Integrative Relational Health, which brought together five scholars from transdisciplinary design, public health, sociology, educational psychology, and theological studies. Their charge was deceptively simple: to study authentic relational communities. What they discovered is that you cannot study authentic community from the outside. You have to become one.

The fellowship transformed into an aligned practice - where the structures that the fellows created to support their cohort experience embodied the same relational principles the fellows were investigating. What emerged were five key insights into what it takes to build authentic relational communities: spaces where people can show up fully, think together honestly, and generate knowledge that actually serves the communities involved.

These insights arrive at a moment of particular urgency. Trust in institutions is declining. Social fragmentation is deepening. Community-based researchers and practitioners are increasingly called to do meaningful work under conditions that work against depth, relationships, and genuine partnerships. This demand for faster outputs, measurable deliverables, and efficient data collection can quietly crowd out the slow, relational work that produces the most transformative understandings. Designing intentional spaces that make authentic collaboration possible is not a luxury. It is a necessity for anyone committed to research and practice that truly serves communities - and to a broader vision of human connection in which difference is held with care.

This work is part of a growing library of organizational publications contributing to the body of knowledge on Integrative Relational Health across disciplines. While this publication focuses specifically on community-engaged research, the principles explored here extend to psychotherapy, education, organizational development, and other contexts where authentic relationship becomes the ground for transformation.

This report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety for educational and noncommercial purposes with proper attribution to the Center for Integrative Relational Health. Excerpts may be used with citation. Modification of content or use for commercial purposes requires prior written permission.

About This Article

Center for Integrative Relational Health. (2026). Authentic Communities: Insights from Integrative Relational Research. Retrieved from integrativerelationalhealth.com

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Meet the IRH Graduate Summer Research Fellows

  • Ayman Mir

    Transdisciplinary Design | Parsons School of Design

  • Christine Chandran

    Public Health | University of Pennsylvania

  • Imma Honkanen

    Sociology | University of Washington

  • Jaelle Faison

    Educational Psychology | Howard University

  • Sarah Oh

    Theological Studies & Community Development | Vanderbilt University

  • Transdisciplinary Design MFA, Parsons School of Design

    Co-designing participatory frameworks and tools to promote reciprocal relationships between community-based organizations and the communities they serve

  • Public Health MPH, University of Pennsylvania

    Designing systems based on generative AI to support relationships between healthcare workers and the communities they serve

  • Sociology PhD, University of Washington

    Creating relational spaces within queer nightlife in response to surveillance

  • Educational Psychology PhD, Howard University

    Using intergroup dialogue as a tool within Global Africa to bridge communication gaps, address miseducation, and increase collective self-determination

  • Theological Studies and Community Development MTS/MA, Vanderbilt University

    Applying pre-modern Korean aesthetic principles to design interventions for individuals leaving high-control, high-demand religious spaces

About the Center for Integrative Relational Health

The Center for Integrative Relational Health advances a unique approach to culture and community practices of care, where thinking, understanding, and relationship-building are inseparable. Our primary aspiration is to transform how we understand healing and human flourishing. We work across disciplines, domains, and traditions, recognizing that relational clarity, understanding, and well-being emerge through encounter, and that difference held in relationship generates what sameness, as an ideology, never could. Community engagement is fostered through language awareness, research, education, and practice. Learn more about the Summer 2025 Graduate Summer Research Fellowship and our other programs.

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