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Contested knowledges: public sociology and the epistemic politics of engaged activist ethnography
Type
conference contribution
Author(s)
Abstract (De)
While publicly engaged research has a long tradition in sociology and the wider social sciences, the question how social research might be made useful to a wider public remains relevant until today. One aspect that deserves further attention in this context is not whether, but precisely how social research might be made publicly relevant. This workshop turns to the epistemological side of this discussion, suggesting that researchers with an interest in public sociology have much to gain from considering the process of knowledge production in engaged research. Focussing in particular on the case of engaged activist ethnography, this workshop draws on ethnographic fieldwork with transnational activists in Europe, and brings respective methodological reflections in conversation with other scholars’ accounts of activist ethnography and ‘militant’ research. Throughout a discussion of such knowledges along four characteristic dimensions (contextual, corporeal, contradictory and collective), the workshop shows that knowledge production is defined, here, by an ongoing process of contestation. This idea of contested knowledges is not only relevant to activist scholars, but matters to sociologists and social scientists more generally, in that it raises questions about how public sociology and other engaged modes of social research might be practised.
Language
English
Event Title
NYLON Annual Conference Knowledge Production in Volatile Times and Spaces
Event Location
London
Event Date
April 2019
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
262972