I got two main ideas from the roundtable discussion on power balance and equity – 1) power struggles are cemented in every aspect of life and 2) research can be both mentally and emotionally draining. All of the speakers discussed deep-seated inequities that are based at the foundation of our society; ranging from inadequate mental health services to the looming destruction of climate change and even the failure of the prison system. For me, this raised the question: when it feels like the world is stuck in its tracks and nothing is changing, how do they manage to continue to work on these issues without becoming jaded?
Professor Tracey McIntosh works with incarcerated Māori women and actively advocates for a reformed prison system. She has evidence to show the prison system is not working, yet the power to change it does not fall solely in her hands. The government is needed to make the structural change. Therefore, as long as parliament sits on their hands, the system stays the same. How does a researcher then deal with that?
The emotional toll it must take on people to continuously uncover the bad in the world and then watch it remain the same is incomprehensible. While I cannot answer how exactly to deal with the overwhelming intensity of some of these issues, I thought the advice given to us at the discussion to debrief from your work and spend time away from it was important. Finding something that keeps you from drowning in the world’s problems is a necessity – whether that is spending time with family and friends or something else. We should all take this lesson with us as we tackle our first research projects.
