Being women scholar-activists: Tensions between the neoliberal university and grassroots housing movements

Abstract

Research rarely unpicks the variety of experiences that exist between activists at different intersections. Our paper attends to this shortfall in literature, firstly through the lens of gendered experiences of labour in housing movements, and secondly through the lens of casualised gendered labour as scholar-activists in the neoliberal university. How we, and others, negotiate these everyday politics will be analysed to offer a more complete understanding of the nuances and tensions at play even in the most progressive movements in Britain. By combining our own experiences with those gleaned from interviews with fellow activists, we develop a framework for understanding what we term ‘activist housework’ - often carried out by those of us who are not cis men - and how this shapes our capacity as organisers and researchers. This framework identifies mundane, everyday and behind-the-scenes labour of activism, which too often goes unseen in favour of focus on more emergent, organic and direct forms of resistance (Pain, 2019). Doing so, we consider, allows reflection on where and how resistance can and must change to maintain the welcome growth in housing activism in Britain.

Activist Research as a Methodological Toolbox to Advance Public Sociology

“…The feasibility of AvR varies according to the different stages and labour and personal conditions in the academic career. Precarity in pay and career promotion, the privatisation of higher education, the commodification of academic publishing and conferences, racism and gender oppression (Bishop and O'Connor, 2023;Burawoy, 2014) all substantially hinder the prospects of both public sociology and AvR. More institutional support for AvR processes might certainly enhance its legitimacy, provide social benefits and better train scholar-activists despite co-optation and political neutralisation risks.…”

“…To deepen these discussions, it is useful to determine the specific oppressions and inequalities that the AvR process aims to address, but also those that may exist or arise among and between activists and academics. Overt discussion about the intersectional positionalities involved requires awareness, care and measures to deal with them in a sensitive manner (Bishop and O'Connor, 2023;Boilevin et al, 2019;McIntyre, 2008).…”

“…In some cases, activism can evolve into more systematic AvR projects. The burgeoning struggles of residents against urban gentrification and home evictions after the 2008 great financial crisis, for instance, led scholars to align their academic projects with their activism (Bishop and O'Connor, 2023;Herzfeld and Lees, 2021;Polanska and Richard, 2021;Sanmartín, 2019;SqEK, 2014;Thörn, 2020).…”