Relational analysis method

In a world of shifting edges, knowledge flows not from centre or margin — but from the spaces between.

Knowledge emerges from relationship, not isolation. Rather than seeking wisdom from "marginalised communities" (which maintains the centre/margin binary), relational analysis recognises that all knowledge is positional, contextual, and constantly flowing between communities and individuals who occupy multiple, shifting positions within various systems of power.

Moving beyond centre/margin binaries

The problem with fixed categories

Traditional approaches to "learning from margins" often:

• Reproduce the binary they claim to challenge by maintaining "centre" as the learning subject
• Flatten complexity by treating people as either marginalised or centred rather than both/neither
• Create extraction relationships where centred people "collect" marginal wisdom
• Romanticise marginality whilst keeping the position of comfortable observer

Recognising relational dynamics

Knowledge flows in all directions:

• Communities survival-tested by racism may also perpetuate gender violence
• Academic institutions that marginalise embodied knowledge may preserve indigenous texts
• Privileged individuals may carry profound insights from their own experiences of trauma, illness, or difference

Positions shift across contexts:

• The same person may be centred (urban, university-educated) and marginal (immigrant, working-class) simultaneously
• What counts as "expert knowledge" changes depending on the question being asked
• Power relations shift across communities, generations, and historical moments

The relational analysis process

1. Map your own knowledge ecology

Trace your intellectual inheritance:

• What knowledge traditions shaped your thinking before you chose them?
• Which voices feel so "natural" you don't notice them as particular perspectives?
• What assumptions about "good knowledge" do you carry unconsciously?

Identify your multiple positions:

• Where do you hold structural privilege? Where are you marginalised?
• How do these intersecting positions sometimes contradict each other?
• What knowledge emerges from your own experiences of marginality?

Examine your knowledge networks:

• Whose ideas do you trust automatically? Whose do you question?
• What communities have shaped your understanding without your acknowledgment?
• How do your social positions influence whose knowledge feels credible to you?

2. Analyse knowledge flows and boundaries

Question apparent universality:

• What knowledge presents itself as "objective" or "neutral"?
• How do dominant institutions validate certain knowledge whilst dismissing others?
• What forms of expertise are taken for granted versus constantly questioned?

Trace hidden genealogies:

• Where did "common sense" ideas actually originate?
• How have marginalised communities' innovations been absorbed into mainstream practice?
• What knowledge has been appropriated, repackaged, and sold back to originating communities?

Examine boundary work:

• Who gets to decide what counts as legitimate knowledge in different contexts?
• How do communities police their own boundaries of acceptable thought?
• What knowledge exists in the spaces between communities or disciplines?

3. Practice epistemic humility

Recognise your situated position:

• All knowledge comes from somewhere specific, not from a "view from nowhere"
• Your social position enables certain insights whilst limiting others
• Others may understand your situation better than you do in some respects

Embrace productive confusion:

• Seek out perspectives that challenge your comfortable assumptions
• Allow contradictory knowledge claims to coexist without immediate resolution
• Notice when you feel defensive about your knowledge being questioned

Acknowledge relational responsibility:

• How does your learning contribute to or challenge existing power structures?
• What are you offering in return for knowledge you receive from others?
• How might your engagement affect the communities whose wisdom you encounter?

Knowledge emerges through relationship, not in isolation. Learning requires vulnerability and mutual transformation.

Practical applications

For learning and inquiry

Diversify knowledge sources:

• Include voices that challenge your existing framework, not just those that add interesting details
• Seek out perspectives from people who disagree with each other rather than looking for consensus
• Pay attention to knowledge that emerges from lived experience different from your own

Analyse your own resistance:

• What knowledge do you dismiss quickly? Why might that be?
• When do you feel intellectually uncomfortable? What might that reveal?
• How do your social positions influence what knowledge feels threatening or irrelevant?

Practice intellectual generosity:

• Assume that people acting differently from you may have good reasons you don't understand
• Look for the insights embedded in practices or beliefs you initially find strange
• Consider how knowledge that seems irrelevant to you might be essential for others

For community organising and collaboration

Map power dynamics honestly:

• Who holds different forms of power (economic, cultural, social, educational) in your coalition?
• How do these power differences affect whose knowledge gets centred in decision-making?
• Where do community members hold expertise that formal leaders might lack?

Create genuine knowledge exchange:

• Structure meetings so different types of expertise can contribute meaningfully
• Rotate facilitation to centre different communication styles and priorities
• Include time for learning from each other, not just planning action

Build accountable relationships:

• Develop ongoing relationships rather than extractive consultations
• Share resources and opportunities based on community priorities, not your assumptions about what people need
• Allow your own analysis and strategies to be changed by what you learn
• Close feedback loops: if you've asked for input or involvement, follow up on what happened with the feedback received, how it influenced decisions, and what the outcomes were

For institutional change

Examine knowledge hierarchies:

• What forms of expertise does your organisation value most highly?
• How do hiring, promotion, and decision-making processes privilege certain knowledge whilst marginalising others?
• What perspectives are systematically excluded from leadership positions?

Create space for epistemological diversity:

• Include multiple ways of knowing in research, planning, and evaluation
• Structure decision-making processes to include different communication styles and priorities
• Develop accountability mechanisms to communities most affected by your work

Challenge false neutrality:

• Acknowledge the political implications of knowledge choices
• Make transparent whose interests are served by current practices
• Create space for fundamental questioning of institutional assumptions

Questions for ongoing reflection

About knowledge and perspective

• What knowledge do you carry from your own experiences of marginality or difference?
• How might your certainties about the world look different from other positions?
• What voices have been systematically excluded from conversations you consider important?

About power and relationship

• How do you use knowledge to maintain or challenge existing power structures?
• What are you offering in return for knowledge you receive from others?
• How might your learning be shaped by unacknowledged privileges or limitations?

About transformation and accountability

• How has engaging with different knowledge traditions changed your understanding or behaviour?
• What relationships of mutual accountability have you developed with communities whose wisdom influences your work?
• How are you using your privileges to challenge systems that marginalise others' knowledge?

Working with complexity

Embracing contradiction

Both/and rather than either/or:

• Communities can be both oppressed and oppressive
• Knowledge can be both liberating and limiting
• Individuals can be both centred and marginalised

Dynamic rather than static:

• Margins and centres shift across contexts and time
• Knowledge evolves through relationship and use
• Power relations change through collective action and resistance

Relational rather than individual:

• Knowledge emerges through relationship, not in isolation
• Learning requires vulnerability and mutual transformation
• Wisdom develops through community engagement over time

Avoiding common pitfalls

Romanticising marginality:

• Marginalised communities aren't inherently more wise or virtuous
• Oppression often produces both insight and trauma
• Different forms of knowledge serve different purposes

Collecting diversity:

• Including token voices to appear inclusive
• Treating people as representatives of entire communities
• Using others' knowledge to enhance your own credibility

Maintaining distance:

• Learning about rather than learning with
• Studying communities rather than building relationships
• Using knowledge without supporting the communities it comes from

This is a slow practice.
A long listening.
Not to arrive at answers,
but to walk with better questions.