Kevin I think understanding activism is a worthy goal. By studying the way activism is done in various contexts - we understand and learn. The binary of activists as doing and academics as ("objectively") studying must be unpacked. The problem with articulating research in such a way that it is implicitly conflated with expertise (where "expert" is considered to be hierarchically above the practitioner/activist since this researcher/expert somehow is considered to have a objective overall perspective on the issue... ) and not with processual LEARNING is that we go into our research settings expecting to be distant and objective. On the other hand if we accept that doing research while learning and engaging and doing - in other words doing a sort of engaged action research project or involved critical ethnography etc - is a learning process - we go in with humility and try to position ourselves as someone who wishes to be educated rather than as a know-all Academic looking to collect data and then heading off to write it up and report within spaces that have no accountability to the context being researched.... For instance, I might articulate my role in RELATION to activists/practitioners that I am working with as a researcher by describing research as my PRACTICE. My practice is to work side by side with those that practice forms of activism and to assist in translating at their request, but also to provide them with a critical lens through a mirroring function and through my analyses discussed first with them before taking them away and publishing them in spaces that are not accountable to them.... Further - there is practice, and there's practice and then there's practice - each situated in differing ideologies and hierarchies. Just as there is research, and there's research and then there's research - each situated in differing ideologies and hierarchies. My scholarship is my practice. My activist collaborator's practice is her scholarship... r
Thanks everybody for your input. It has been very helpful and encouraging, encouragement I really needed at this point in time.
I posted this new vs old activism question to a list owned by both scholars and activists and the activists pretty much said: "activism is activism" which i read to mean that in the past people have tried to change things (the world?) and today people are still trying to change things (the world?). (the response to this, i think, is that while the core reasons for activism haven't changed, perhaps the way in which that activism is carried out, has). But their response also had a decidedly anti-scholarship feel to it--"while you scholars are busy studying activism, we're busy actually doing it. by the time your findings come out, we've moved on to new things."
But isn't that the plight of the scholar no matter what they study...especially insofar as technology-related topics are concerned? Should I take that response to mean that I shouldn't bother studying activism--in other words, are we talking to ourselves or are we making a difference in the lives of those who practice what we study? Guess I'm having a bit of a...moment. sorry.
Kevin Sherman PhD Candidate Centre for Communication Research Auckland University of Technology
massa@itc.it 22/11/2006 10:52 a.m. >>> It seems nobody suggested this edited collection:
Cyberactivism: on-line activism in theory and practice. London: Routledge. Find a review at http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/9.1/reviews/depew/index.htm
I have in my toread list this paper that is in this edited collection (but I haven't read it yet): Garrido, M., & Halavais, A. (2003). Mapping networks of support for the Zapatista movement. In M. McCaughey & M. D. Ayers (Eds.),
Hope it helps
P.
On 11/21/06, Kevin Sherman <kevin.sherman@aut.ac.nz> wrote:
Can anyone direct me to significant literature regarding what constitutes old political activism vs new activism--particularly insofar as its organisation, structure and implementation is concerned? Of interest is how (and whether) the Internet plays a role in what some are calling a new (global?) activism.
Alternatively, if you think there's nothing particularly new about activism, I'd be interested in that as well...
I realise this is a fairly broad question, but your responses needn't be similarly expansive--just a quick thought here or there would be greatly appreciated!
Kevin Sherman PhD Candidate Centre for Communication Research Auckland University of Technology _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org ( http://aoir.org/ ) Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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