The Oxford Handbook of Grounded and Engaged Normative Theory

The Oxford Handbook of Grounded and Engaged Normative Theory introduces readers to this burgeoning field of theory and methodology by exploring a range of empirical research practices that center lived experience to develop normative arguments. Theorists who work in this way demonstrate a commitment to expanding thinking about political theory to include those who have a stake in the concepts being studied. They consider the meanings that people make of their own experiences, political context, and histories in the struggle to be recognized by oppressors with epistemic authority. Undoing these histories depends on a commitment to epistemic inclusion, that is, a commitment to look for and attend to modes of knowing and sources of knowledge that are otherwise marginalized by the politics of knowledge or the norms of the discipline.

In the last decade, grounded and engaged normative theory has coalesced into a distinctive approach in political science. This Handbook offers a cohesive overview of the field's principles, origins, methodologies, substantive lines of inquiry, and applications. Contributors to the volume enrich theoretical and methodological discussions with chapters full of examples of how the authors themselves have done the work. By laying out multiple theoretical starting points and demonstrating diverse methodological approaches, this volume helps both practitioners and students to better understand what they can learn from and do in this dynamic field.

Brooke Ackerly is Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University.

Luis Cabrera is Professor of Political Science in the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University in Brisbane.

Monique Deveaux is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Guelph, where she co-directs the Grounded & Engaged Theory (GET) lab.

Fonna Forman is Professor of Political Theory and Founding Director of the Center on Global Justice at UC San Diego.

Genevieve Fuji Johnson is Professor of Political Science at Simon Fraser University.

Gina Starblanket is an Associate Professor in the School of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria.

Antje Wiener, FAcSS MAE, is a Professor of Political Science and Law at the University of Hamburg and By-Fellow at Hughes Hall, Cambridge.

1. Introduction, Brooke A. Ackerly, Luis Cabrera, and Genevieve Fuji JohnsonSection I. Traditions, Foundations, Directions2. African Philosophies Embedded in African Eldership: Ubulungisa (Justice) and Ukubambisana (Cooperation), Zethu Cakata and Thandiwe Ndaba3. Political Confucian Political Theory: Toward Engaged Political Theory, Sungmoon Kim4. Feminist Roots of Grounded and Engaged Normative Theory, Brooke A. Ackerly5. Grounding Critical Theory Through Critical-Popular Research, Paul Apostolidis6. The Hidden Pragmatist History of Grounded Normative Theory, Margaret Kohn7. Methodological Gate-Opening: Participatory Theorizing and Decolonial Praxis, Christine (Cricket) Keating and Natasha Behl8. Theorizing Soil: Grounded and Engaged Projects of Racial Terror Memorialization, Desireé R. Melonas and Alex Melonas9. On What Grounds? Exploring the Terrain of Scholarly "Engagement" with Indigenous Governance in Canada, Gina Starblanket, Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark, and Hokulani K. AikauSection II. Methodologies10. Critical Pragmatism, Engaged and Grounded Normative Theory, and Methodology, S. Laurel Weldon11. Who's Afraid of Interpretative Methods? Rethinking Positivism and Political Theory, Matthew Longo12. Normative Political Theory and Interpretive Methodology: Beyond the Improvement Project, Jennifer C. Rubenstein13. Geographic Terrains of Struggle: Practicing Transformative Solidaristic Epistemic Politics with Historical Actors, Katerina Traut14. Understanding the Interconnections of Theory and Praxis Within Indigenous Research, Michelle Pidgeon15. Engaged Theory, Contested Ground: Cultivating Care, Connections, and Community Through Sensory Research, Sarah Marie Wiebe16. Theorizing With Nonhumans, Hans Asenbaum17. How to Empirically Ground Theories of Economic Justice: The Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent, Lisa Herzog18. When Quality Abounds: The Re-Grounding of Deliberative Theory in Big Data, John Parkinson and Núria Franco-Guillén19. An Experimental Approach to Deliberative Democracy and Inequality, Afsoun Afsahi and Richard FosterSection III. Global Justice20. Decolonizing Normative Democratic Theory: Grounding Democracy From Below in South Africa, Heidi Brooks, Carin Runciman, and Trevor Ngwane21. Indigenous Gender Justice and Self-Determination, Rauna Kuokkanen22. Engaged Theory: Collaboratively Weaving the Grounds of Global Justice, Rebeccah Nelems23. Love Beyond the State: Ancestral Marriage from a Kichwa Nation to the UN and Back, Manuela Lavina Picq24. Remaking Justice: Beyond Police, Prisons, and the State, Marina Sitrin25. Pursuing Climate Justice: Practice-Centered Theory, Indigenous Communities, and Engaged Philosophical Inquiry, Marco Grix and Krushil Watene26. Ch'ixi and Visual Sociology as Grounded Normative Theory? Contributions and Challenges, Daniel LunaSection IV. Borders, Citizenship, and the Movement of Persons27. Grounding the Normative Theory of Refugee Self-Representation, Terry Macdonald and Adrian Little28. Mutuality as Emergent Grounded Research, Alexandra Délano Alonso and Anne McNevin29. Overturning Birthright Citizenship in a Post-Roe United States: A Specter of Dehumanization, Amy Reed-Sandoval30. Temporary Labor Migration: Borders, Belonging, and the Ethics of Care, Ethel Tungohan31. Centering Indigeneity and Critical Relational Methodology in Im/migration and Borders as Grounded Normative Political Theory, Raquel Andrea González MadrigalSection V. Local Paths to Global Climate Justice32. Grounded Normative Theory: Methodological Considerations on Visual Data and Communication During the California Wildfires, 2020-2021, Aidan McGarry and Emiliano Treré33. Grounded in a Changing Climate: Knowledge Production and Struggles for Just Climate Futures, Jan Wilkens34. Grounded and Engaged Research as a Cross-Border Bridge: Reflections From the Binational Tijuana River Watershed, Kyle Haines, Kristen Goodrich, Laurie Silvan, and Napoleon Gudino-Elizondo35. Grounding Marxist Research in California, Keally McBrideSection VI. Change in Norms36. International Norm Conflict and the Women, Peace, and Security Transnational Network, Farkhondeh Akbari and Jacqui True37. Practice-Based Ethics in International Relations Theory, Maren Hofius38. Pragmatist International Relations as Grounded Normative Theory: Theory, Practice, Advocacy, and Activism in International Society, Jason Ralph39. Civility and Grounded Normative Theory, Matteo Bonotti and Steven T. Zech40. Civilizing the Global Nuclear Order Through Access to Contestation, Carmen Wunderlich41. Normative Changes and Harms: Anti-Gender/Anti-SOGI Normative Transformation in Turkey, Hüsrev TabakSection VII. Policy and Impact42. Overcoming Hegemony: Grounded Normative Theory in Policy Analysis, Hendrik Wagenaar and Barbara Prainsack43. Grounded Normative Theory Contributions to Understanding and Intervening in Public Policymaking, Chris Tenove44. Powerful Institutions, Vulnerable Participants, and Transgressive Research: Lessons From Research in and Around Prisons, Farah Godrej45. Enacting and Theorizing Civic Deliberation Through a Research-Practice Partnership, Tatiana Geron, Heather Van Benthuysen, and Meira Levinson46. Unwalling Citizenship: The UCSD Community Stations, Fonna Forman and Teddy Cruz