Abstract
In this thematic section, contributors critically examine their attempts to put community engaged scholarship into practice as a means of giving back. In this form of research practice, informants become community research partners, who work with academic researchers to co-create research questions, protocols, and outcomes. Following participatory and feminist research principles, the authors in this section describe their work balancing research and action, as part of a broader social change project. The authors also discuss their efforts to generate more even power dynamics in their research collaborations with marginalized communities, and the challenges that arise in doing so. As community engaged scholars, the authors find the research process to be as important as, and interconnected to, their research products. Thus, the collaborative research process becomes an ongoing and dynamic form of giving back in itself.