Collective Scholar Activism

URBAN ACT. A handbook for alternative practices

Editor: atelier d'architecture autogérée (aaa), PEPRAV

Contributors: Texts by Jochen Becker, Kathrin Böhm (public works), Axel Claes (PTTL), Margit Czenki, Siynem Ezgi Saritas, Jesko Fezer, Mathias Heyden, Brian Holmes, Antonio Negri, Pascal Nicolas-Le Strat, Constantin Petcou, Doina Petrescu, Anne Querrien, Christoph Schäfer (Park Fiction)

2007

This document is the outcome of a series of discussions and collaborations with a number of people, involved directly or indirectly in a project within a European network. It shows a collective desire to create connections between different practices and research on the city. URBAN ACT condenses the idea of a certain type of activism, of a way of acting and organising actions, which is probably a common thread for all the contributors.

The book is distributed by the editors and through a network of voluntary agents, at the price of 20 euros per copy under the principle: 'one book sold/one book free' for the distributing agent. Resulting funds cover a part of the printing costs. A free PDF of the book is available for downloading on www.peprav.net and www.urbantactics.org

The article departs from an ethnographic experience involving the kharisiri, a dystopian, fat-stealing monster of the Bolivian Andes that has been analyzed by generations of anthropologists to understand Aymara culture. However, it argues that when Aymara people identify Others, in this case anthropologists, with the kharisiri, they are primarily saying something about those Others, and not about themselves. Following Wagner's " reverse anthropology " and Taussig's study of native evil figures as a critique of capitalism, this article proposes that people who have been subjected to anthropological scrutiny have a critical vantage point on anthropological practices. Thus, dystopia and monstrosity fulfill a decolonial purpose by handing over a mirror to anthropologists , urging them to meditate on their own monstrous ways of operating, the " extractivist " nature of ethnography, the Anglophone-centrism of anthropological writing, and, not least, the coercive reward systems of academia which disciplinize us into practicing " kharisiri anthropology. "

Geography means earth writing, and so it is perhaps fitting that writing itself has become a primary intellectual battleground in contemporary geographical thought. This paper advocates for metaphorical earth writing, arguing that it unchains our geographical imaginations from the shackles of our disciplinary past by boldly embracing geopoetics. I hope to spark debate by promoting the un-disciplining of geography as a means to open up a theoretical space for voice, where a material space of emancipation might follow. The notion that our epistemological, ontological, and methodological choices are not apolitical decisions without consequence guides my inquiry. Accordingly I critique the accusation of esotericism as a narrative that reifies the false dichotomy between academia and society. Aversion to metaphor fails to recognize the epistemological challenge it raises and underestimates how jargon combats commonsense notions that reinforce hierarchical power relations. How we write the earth constitutes a political choice, where disciplining others into a singular way of knowing, being, and doing geography is an affront to the possibilities of space. When we make space for earth writing as a beautiful flourishing of geopoetics, we place the earth at the center of experience, releasing the light and energy of a more powerful geography.

This article analyzes the roles, relations, and positions of scholar-activists in the European food sovereignty movement. In doing so, we document, make visible and question the political dimensions of researchers' participation in the movement. We argue that scholar-activists are part of the movement, but are distinct from the affected constituencies, put in place to ensure adequate representation of key movement actors. This is because scholar-activists lack a collective identity, have no processes to formulate collective demands, and no mechanisms for inter-researcher and researchers-movement communication. We reflect on whether and how scholar-activists could organize, and discuss possible pathways for a more cohesive and stronger researcher engagement in the movement.

Gonzalez, Alejandra, Irene Lara, Carolina Prado, Sophia Rivera, and Carmen Rodriguez (authors listed in alphabetical order represent equal authorship). “Passing the Sage: CuranderaScholarActivists in Academia.” Chicana/Latina Studies: The Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social. v. 15, n. 1 (fall 2015): 110-55.
This collaborative essay addresses the theories and practices of the “CuranderaScholarActivist” (CSA) femtoring seminar, a holistic undergraduate research program founded in 2009 by Professor Irene Lara through the Faculty-Student Mentoring Program at San Diego State University. Drawing on Anzaldúan autohistoria and other Chicana/Latina testimonio methods, the authors (four student participants and the faculty “femtor”) reflect on their experiences in the CSA program, which is geared toward first generation Chicana, Latina, and Indigenous women college students. They explore what it means to be a CuranderaScholarActivist and the potential of CSA praxis as a liberatory tool to decolonize and heal themselves and academia. The CSA’s vision of a decolonized academy insists that the production of knowledge be participatory for the purpose of social justice and collective liberation. Using feminist pedagogies and Chicana/o, Latina/o, and Indigenous theories, the CSA model addresses the need for further holistic femtoring models that acknowledge the bodymindspirithearts of students and faculty.

We're talking about social news reporting, or, in other words, we're talking about how the masses took control from the massmedia giants and became themselves the news reporters, or did they? Mass-media networks, which includes but is not limited to newspapers, have had, and some still do, a hard time adjusting to the rather quick rise of the social media. Many newspapers just closed shop, many more soon understood that no online presence was
basically a death sentence for them. In theory, the rise of social media was, for many newspaper, a cease and desist notice. Newspapers, but not only, adapted and managed to survive but their future is considered uncertain, at best.

Traditional markets in the UK find themselves at a crossroads; on one hand pushed out by changing retail trends and urban redevelopment, on the other championed as desirable, vibrant spaces which are the key to reviving town centres. Regeneration plans threaten what many traders and customers see as a unique and necessary public space in the heart of our towns and cities. This report has two aims; 1) To critically examine the changing fortunes of the traditional market, with an emphasis on wider urban regeneration and gentrification strategies 2) To explore ways in which customers and traders can successfully maintain markets as places which serve particular and often marginalised groups of people, and in which the social value of these spaces is maintained. The report is aimed at campaigners or potential campaigners, people with a general or academic interest in regeneration, retail and urban development, and policy-makers (especially at a local level). It draws on campaign work an...