Dominique Lyew, Ph.D.

Dominique Lyew is a Senior Researcher at the FrameWorks Institute. She completed her doctoral studies in 2022, and her research has been guided by a range of critical theories. Some of those theories include: Black feminism, decolonial feminism, critical race theory, ecological systems theory, and epistemic justice. In her dissertation, Epistemic Promise and Political Participation in Jamaica, she developed the concept of epistemic promise through applying theories of epistemic justice to the problem of low political participation. In this work, she argues that people are more likely to participate if they believe their inputs to a political process meaningfully affect the outcomes of that process. She is committed to continually learning more about the intersecting systems of oppression that impact our lives, and using that knowledge to work towards dismantling those systems.

Prior to joining FrameWorks, Dominique worked on several applied research projects with institutions in the United States and Jamaica. Examples of those projects include: a report on Community Oversight Boards (COB) for an advocacy group in Nashville, an evaluation of an after-school network in Nashville, a thesis on the experiences of community researchers in Kingston, background research for a participatory budgeting mobile application in Kingston, and reports on public reactions to political debates in the Jamaican national elections. Earlier in her career, she worked as an administrative/research assistant and volunteer peer counselor in Berkeley, CA; and a college counselor in Kingston, Jamaica.

Dominique holds a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, and a Master’s and Ph.D. in Community Research and Action from Vanderbilt University.