Academia & Activism
Francesca MorosiDoctoral researcherNottingham Business
SchoolFrom PhD to Activism: my journey to impact social changes
From PhD to Activism
What is Activism?My personal journey: a brief overviewAcademia
& Activism (literature)A Tool kit for overcoming challengesCan
you be an activist in your chosen field?A step-by-step Activist
Action PlanQ&A + sharing personal stories
What is ACTIVISM?the policy or action of using vigorous
campaigning to bring about political or social change (Oxford
Dictionary)
The Art of Activism Redfordcentre.org
Activism: key ingredientsCommitment: placing resources and time
Initiative: activists are proactive, dreamers but also
doersCommunication: collective action, linking with othersCourage:
facing attacks, beyond self-interestCreativity: thinking outside
the boxPassion: feeling strongly about an issue (emotion)Optimism:
positive attitude, social change seen as possible Problem solving:
finding solutions to challenges Vision: envisaging ways to impact
changes
My personal journeyResearch project exploring young girls (age
8-11)s femininity and their advertising experiences
Mainly qualitative approach, attention to girls life context and
a phenomenological approach to their experiences (i.e. observing
/interviewing the girls while they are watching the adverts)
Main curiosity: how young girls perceived femininity represented
in adverts (stereotypical = beauty, sexiness, appearance) and how
their own femininity related to their consumption and perceptions
of media & adverts
Burning question: what makes some girls more resilient to the
medias pressure to be beautiful and sexy?
Results: stressing the importance of values , gender practices
and relationships within the family, bonding with father and older
brothers, parental mediation and critical media literacy.
Personal story, emotional attachment to the issue
Action planhow can we impact social changes?
SOCIAL MEDIABLOGNETWORKING WITH RELEVANT ORGANISATIONSSOCIAL
ENTERPRISE
PUBLICATIONS
LINKING WITH OTHER ACADEMICS & ACTIVIST
(Downs & Manion, 2004; Zerai, 2002; Flood, Martin&
Dreher, 2013)
Academia as a site for activism
1) Source of knowledge
Academics may produce knowledge that, intentionally or not,
informs progressive social change.
Academic research may be taken up by activist and advocacy
organisations for their own campaign work.
Academics may contribute to policy debates and political change
by participating in public debate or by direct submissions to
policymakers
Academics can also decide to promote social change through
campaigning & social entrepreneurship
More passiveMore active
Researcher position
2) Conducting ResearchAcademics can conduct research that in
itself involves social change. The term action research describes a
family of research methodologies that involve simultaneously
pursuing social change (action) and scholarly understanding
(research).
Action research typically is participatory in nature, in the
sense of involving all relevant parties in a particular community
or organisation in the research process from planning to
implementation, analysis and dissemination.
Thus, academics may conduct activism as academic work,
validating (particular forms of) activism in the name of their
intellectual value
The rewards of activismMany academics engaged in social change
work, experience powerful personal and professional benefits.
Activist academics can find meaning and comfort in the sense
that their work contributes to the greater good, nourishing a sense
of personal and collective purpose. Finding pleasures in
friendships and alliances with like-minded others and in
participating in collective activist networks and communities.
Both personal and political investments in making a difference -
the passion to promote change - can give impetus to professional
work, motivating both intensified research and public
engagement.
Academics who engage in activism face also a series of
challenges and obstacles
AttacksThreats to security and advancementDelays in
publicationOutput expectationsDisciplinary pressures
Epistemological expectations Peer influences
Practical means a toolkit of strategies can be used to overcome
or mitigate these obstacles.
The divide between activism and academiaAcademia and activism
are simply different things. Every activity has a bottom line. In
politics, its votes. In business, its money. In religion, its
souls. Activism is about promoting social change, which is a
different bottom line than academia, which is knowledge
generation.And look around academia is built for scholarship. We
are cloistered on our campuses and in our laboratories. We pore
over journals that few people read. Our main ritual is the seminar,
not the protest. To be blunt, we simply dont have the tools that
you need for social change.Social change is a wholly different
creature. If you want to influence policy, you need money, or you
need a bloc of voters, or you need to sue someone. You may need
friends in the media. Or a few thousand friends to show up at a
rally. The work of social change is about these activities, not
pumping your CV with articles in the right journals.
http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/why-activism-and-academia-dont-mix/
Main things to have clear about being an activist &
academic
Dont expect academic rewards from your activism: most professors
(and graduate students) will continue to be rewarded for their
research and teaching. Academic jobs that reward activism are
extremely rare.
As an academic, you will be expected to spend most of your time
doing academic work (building knowledge or teaching). Academics who
build a consistent and credible base of knowledge can be the most
successful activists in their field.
If you are serious about social change, you will still do things
that get you no reward in the academy. Activism will be done
because you care about it even though your boss/institution
wont!
Social entrepreneurship
Whenever society is stuck or has an opportunity to seize a new
opportunity, it needs an entrepreneur to see the opportunity and
then to turn that vision into a realistic idea and then a reality
and then, indeed, the new pattern all across society. We need such
entrepreneurial leadership at least as much in education and human
rights as we do in communications and hotels. This is the work of
social entrepreneurs.Bill DraytonFounder of Ashoka: Innovators for
the Public
See more at:
http://timreview.ca/article/523#sthash.1ix95wcX.dpuf
He describes how US media works as an incessant political
propaganda numbing citizens into ignorant apathyIn 1967 he gained
public attention for his vocal opposition to U.S. involvement in
theVietnam WarHe came to be associated with theNew Leftwhile being
arrested on multiple occasions for his anti-war activismFollowing
his retirement from active teaching, he has continued his vocal
public activism, praising theOccupy movement.
Noam Chomsky
American professor, linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist,
political commentator and activist
Dr Hanan Chehata
Honours Degree in LawMasters Degree in Criminal Justice PhD in
LawHuman rights activist
She took assignment as a Press Officer for the Middle East
Monitor (MEMO)- a London based organisation focusing on
disseminating news and information on PalestineA well-known figure
in the Muslim community for her pro-Palestinian activism and
extensive charity work (i.e. help Palestinians, homelessness,
domestic violence).In one speech she recounts how she and her
family were physically abused by her father who was jailed for his
offences.
No one will help you escape from this kind of abuse unless you
help yourself first.
Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison - School of
EducationFor more than three decades Prof. Apple has worked with
educators, unions, dissident groups, and governments throughout the
world on democratizing educational policy and practiceHe has also
published extensively on how education is affected by ideology and
on how to bring democracy in the schools
Prof. Michael Apple
An educational theorist specialized on education and power,
cultural politics, curriculum theory and research, critical
teaching, and the development of democratic schools
Prof. James ArvanitakisThis is the essence of being an
activist-academic: it is about promoting justice, working with
partners on an equal setting and ensuring that the vulnerable are
supported in acts of solidarity. Like any profession, academics
have pressures, deadlines and stresses. We should never forget the
privileged positions we are in, however, and ensure our actions are
driven by this solidarity.
http://jamesarvanitakis.net/on-being-an-activist-academic/
Professor in the Humanities at the University of Western Sydney,
he wrote and researched extensively on themes relating to new
citizenship and pacifism. A prolific human activist
Questions & Answers
Lets share our personal stories and plan your journey!Exercise
1: locating stakeholdersExercise 2: have you got what it takes?
(reviewing key attributes)Exercise 3: social change you want to
impactExercise 4: envisaging your challengesExercise 5: Your
Activist action plan (brainstorming)
References & further readingCancian, F.M. (1993). Conflicts
between activist research and academic success: Participatory
research and alternative strategies. The American Sociologist, Vol.
24 (1), pp. 92-106
Downs, J. & Manion, J. (2004). Taking Back the Academy!
History of Activism, History as Activism. Routledge.
Fickey, A. (2012). Moving from Place to Place: Exploring the
Complexities of Being an Academic and Activist in/for
Appalachia.PRISM: A Journal of Regional Engagement, 1(1). Retrieved
from http://encompass.eku.edu/prism/vol1/iss1/6
Flood, M. G., Martin, B. and Dreher, T. (2013). Combining
academia and activism: common obstacles and useful tools.
Australian Universities Review, Vol. 55 (1), pp. 17-26.
http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/why-activism-and-academia-dont-mix/
