Workshop: The Practical Challenges Of Engaged Research In Social Movements

Following a long period in which more distanced (e.g. newspaper or text-based), positivist and quantitative modes of researching social movements have been to the fore within academia, recent years are seeing a return to more participatory, engaged and ethnographic approaches. More researchers are taking movements seriously as producers of knowledge in their own right, while movements are changing their relationships to the academy in many ways. Consistent with this, there has been a rise in discussions of the politics and ethics of engaged research in social movements, combining more normative approaches to case study approaches of particular research projects. This workshop aims to explore the practical challenges of such research, going beyond the specifics of individual situations without taking refuge in abstract normative or theoretical prescriptions. It will explore issues such as what the longer-term implications of engaged research are for scholars in t heir academic careers and as movement practitioners; how it is reshaping both research on movements and movement organisation; the practical difficulties and role conflicts of such research on a day-to-day level; negotiating tensions in research and writing; etc. Dr Laurence Cox (National University of Ireland Maynooth) has been an engaged researcher on social movements for 20 years and runs both PhD and taught MA programmes mentoring engaged researchers in the field. This workshop is suitable for scholars at any level interested in reflecting on their own experience and practice in this area.