Scholarship for Social Change: Reflections of an Accidental Academic

Abstract

In this article, I describe how I stumbled my way into an academic career doing research to promote social change toward greater equity and inclusion. I reflect on how my path has been informed by my own experiences with harassment, marginalization, and privilege. These reflections build upon the belief that we are all informed by our histories, vantage points, and social locations and that those forces shape the questions we ask, the way we ask them, how and where we look for evidence, and what we do with the results once we get them. My diverse, urban high school experience combined with my circuitous educational path did not portend great potential to become an academic. I describe experiences that expanded my awareness and opened up opportunities to grow and expand upon my role as an activist scholar. Through examples from my own work, I explore three possible functions of research that can contribute to social change: (a) NAMING, which leads to awareness, recognition, and engagement; (b) FRAMING, which expands our view beyond the moment and specific instances and leads to the identification and disruption of constraining contextual circumstances and assumptions; and (c) CATALYZING action, which builds momentum and promotes capacity for action.

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