Drug Decriminalization in Maryland Through an African Centered Research Paradigm- Analysis and Recommendations

paradigms and tools created by the social sciences of a “free market society” to attempt to solve
the problems this society produces (i.e., addiction).
Alternative Methodologies - African American Research Paradigms
While the tenants of the research Schiele outlines may represent the tenants of the dominant
methodology of scientific research, it is not the only paradigm available. Here we can begin to
analyze what I call African Centered Research Paradigms. I use this specific term as it is inclusive
of multiple different ways of describing research methodologies guided by the culture, knowledge
production practices, and experiences of people of African descent. As there is diversity within
African peoples, there are multiple different Black scholars with different versions of what could
be called African Centered Research Paradigms. The goal here is not to attempt to parse one from
the other meticulously but to take a general conceptual understanding of what the paradigms bring
to the research process and what general characteristics reflect researchers using these
methodologies. One additional note on terminology, many scholars use the term “Afrocentric” to
describe these practices, including many who will be cited in this report. As this term is used
increasingly to describe the specific methods of research produced by Temple University professor
Molefi Asante and his academic disciples, we feel it is more accurate to use the term “African
Centered” to reflect the diversity of scholars beyond those directly affiliated with Asante and
Temple University.
Na’im Akbar outlines the tenants of what he calls the African American Research Paradigm
(i.e. AARP), a process where the author attempts to proceed through four distinct research phrases
to produce knowledge explicitly in the service of liberation. Akbar writes:
“The second issue of methodology is the "how" or types of research procedures that
appropriately address the model. There are four (4) general types of research which are
most relevant to an African American paradigm: (1) theoretical, (2) critique of falsification
(deconstruction) research, (3) ethnographic, and (4) heuristic (construction or
reconstruction) research.
Theoretical research is for the purpose of generating questions. Theory development grows
from self-reflective observation and the introspective analysis of ones (collective)
experiences. No data beyond ones subjective and affective appraisal of the observer's
experience are necessary. This is not unlike the procedure for the ground breaking and
paradigm-setting work of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, William James, B.F. Skinner and the
vast array of luminaries in all fields of social science research who never produced a
control group while laying the corner- stone for Western thought. Once a logically
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