Activist Scholarship: Antiracism, Feminism, and Social Change

Can scholars generate knowledge production and pedagogy that bolster local and global forms of resistance to U.S. imperialism, racial/gender oppression, and the economic violence of capitalist globalization? This book explores what happens when scholars create active engagements between the academy and communities of resistance. In so doing, it suggests a new direction for antiracist and feminist scholarship, rejecting models of academic radicalism that remain unaccountable to grassroots social movements and exploring the community and the academy as interlinked sites of struggle. The chapters are authored by leading scholars from the U.S., Canada, India, Japan, and the UK who are involved in feminist, antiracist, indigenous sovereignty, transgender liberation, antiglobalization, antimilitary, and antiprison movements. They provide models and the opportunity for critical reflection for students and faculty as they struggle to align their commitments to social justice with their roles in the academy. At the same time, they explore the tensions and challenges of engaging in such contested work.