Rooted in History
The Madisonville Community Studio is an ongoing project co-created by Madisonville residents and Design Impact (DI) to explore key questions about the inclusiveness of neighborhood changes. The project is supported by the Kresge Foundation.
Creative placemaking experts often talk about the importance of rooting community development practices in a place's cultural and historical context. For the Madisonville community studio, we wanted to have an honest discussion at the beginning about how our country's racist policies and practices impacted Madisonville. Who has lived in this community? What has shaped shifts or movements of groups of people? How have Black and White people lived alongside one another? How does our race impact our understanding of the neighborhood's history?
We started by examining Madisonville's history. Design Impact reached out to two local historians who had personal connections to Madisonville. We asked them to share some of Madisonville's history with us. With their help, we were able to pull together an outline of the neighborhood's history specifically tied to race and neighborhood development to introduce at our first studio.
Through an activity called "People's History," we explored the different events and people that are significant to residents. After walking through the historical outline DI had created, we asked everyone to add events or people that had meaning to them.
Our discussion was insightful. We found that our understanding of certain events or changes in the community varied based on the perspectives or experiences we all hold. At some points, we even disagreed with one another about when and how some events had happened. But we kept talking. And we came to the conclusion that we have come back to over and over again:
Multiple truths can exist. Our experiences and histories shape how we make sense of the world around us today. When we dismiss someone's truth or perspective, we are telling them their experiences and history aren't real. This dismissal drives disconnection.
Written by Sarah Corlett, Director of Community Development and Strategy
Creative placemaking experts often talk about the importance of rooting community development practices in a place's cultural and historical context. For the Madisonville community studio, we wanted to have an honest discussion at the beginning about how our country's racist policies and practices impacted Madisonville. Who has lived in this community? What has shaped shifts or movements of groups of people? How have Black and White people lived alongside one another? How does our race impact our understanding of the neighborhood's history?
We started by examining Madisonville's history. Design Impact reached out to two local historians who had personal connections to Madisonville. We asked them to share some of Madisonville's history with us. With their help, we were able to pull together an outline of the neighborhood's history specifically tied to race and neighborhood development to introduce at our first studio.
Through an activity called "People's History," we explored the different events and people that are significant to residents. After walking through the historical outline DI had created, we asked everyone to add events or people that had meaning to them.
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The timeline and sticky notes representing events and people of significance to participants
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Our discussion was insightful. We found that our understanding of certain events or changes in the community varied based on the perspectives or experiences we all hold. At some points, we even disagreed with one another about when and how some events had happened. But we kept talking. And we came to the conclusion that we have come back to over and over again:
Multiple truths can exist. Our experiences and histories shape how we make sense of the world around us today. When we dismiss someone's truth or perspective, we are telling them their experiences and history aren't real. This dismissal drives disconnection.
“I have learned that information, perception, and one’s truth aren’t well shared and sometimes sharing perspectives improve the common understanding and sometimes facts get ignored if they don’t fit the narrative. What sticks with me is that relationships, one-on-one, matter." - Madisonville studio participantThis shared understanding has been foundational for our time together. We are committed to deepening our connections, so we must truly seek to understand and acknowledge people's truths and let those truths inform our actions.
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