What is activist scholarship?

Activist scholarship may take a number of different forms. In some cases, scholars may focus their research on community-based organizing, social movements or other social change initiatives with the aim of producing scholarship that informs activism and produces more effective praxis. This work may also deploy anti-oppressive research methodologies such as participatory action research which seek to empower the research subject and break down traditional power dynamics in the research arena. In other instances, scholars may be engaged in activism at the local, national or international level that shapes their research agenda. Scholars may also engage in activist pedagogy and praxis within the academy, by seeking to change the fundamental inequalities that marginalize scholars and students from non-traditional backgrounds.