Scholar Activism - Ezra

How/Can activist scholarship challenge the structure of the neoliberal, corporatized & hyper-surveilled University? I am struggling here with the University's capacity to recuperate critique and refine its operational efficiency (re: counterinsurgency). Specifically, how can activist scholarship come into a productive tension with the institutions that fund and promulgate research? Examples here include how to help promote divestment from military profiteers or the defunding of campus policing. In this vein, how can research engage with the diffuse nature of power to interrogate the ways in which not only 'the University' or 'Academia', but also researchers' willingness to inhabit social positions within these are complicit in the daily reproduction of practices of inequity and exclusion? Furthermore, when scholar activism actively threatens an existing social or political system, what kinds of retaliations must one be willing to endure? What must an activist scholar be willing to lose?

A. Davis_ Activism

“Are we willing to relegate ever larger numbers of people from racially oppressed communities to an isolated existence marked by authoritarian regimes, violence, disease, and technologies of seclusion that produce severe mental instability?” (10)

Angela Y. Davis asks herself this question in the Introduction of her book Are Prisons Obsolete? She points to an important question that affects many members of our community and now more than ever rings true to our situation. Black lives, immigrant lives, Muslim lives, all minority and demonized groups of our communities are being secluded, violated and punished by being isolated from the larger community by authoritarian regimes.

“The prison … functions ideologically as an abstract site into which undesirables are deposited, relieving us of the responsibility of thinking about the real issues afflicting those communities from which prisoners are drawn in such disproportionate numbers … It relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.” (16)

This reminded me of last week’s reading on how counterterrorism is advertised to the public as a practice that “prevents” or “combats” violent extremism to promote the well-being and security of U.S. citizens, however, this practice hides a darker truth of exploitation, manipulation, and mistreatment. In connection with Davis writing, the ideology behind the correctional system is one of prevention and rehabilitation, however, punishment, instability, and mistreatment are the real components of this equation.

Overall, I found this to be a great and inspiring reading that sheds light on the important and current issue of prison abolition. 

Scholar Activism

In my work with feminist artists of the 1960s and 1970s, I struggle to find a way to account for the lack intersectionality in these artworks while still arguing that these projects pose still relevant questions, issues, and ideas.  What are some good tactics for accounting for problematic gaps in work so that they can be consumed with purpose today?  

Carpio_Scholar Activism

Scholar Activism - Jozi Chaet

A lot of the questions have expressed some interest in the accessibility of academic work and the ways in which it is possible to have activist scholarship be seen as a serious avenue of inquiry within the academy, and my questions express a somewhat similar sentiment --
1. How can we produce work that is viewed as legitimate for both the academy and for the communities in which we work? How can that work be disseminated to a wider audience?
2. Who is activist scholarship ultimately for, and how do we as researchers make sure that we are conducting appropriate work for the 'right' reasons?

Scholar Activism_ K.The

I feel like sometimes there are some assumptions that we have about activism or scholar activism. Such as assuming that one particular type of activism is the best kind of activism, whether that be a protest, written pieces, performances, or any other form of activism. 

Why does the gap between scholarship and activism feel so large and what can we do to address it? Are we doing enough? What are different ways to do scholar activism?

Min - Scholar Activism

What roles should scholar-activist play in activism? How would we pursue theoretical, intellectual inquiries with a strong political commitment to engaged research?