(PSM4) Citations & Theory: Knowledge production and intellectual traditions in social movement studies

Conference Highlights, In-person, Panels and Plenary
Political Sociology and Social Movements

Citations form disciplines. They are, as Sara Ahmed (2017) puts it, “academic bricks through which we create houses” (p.148).  Citations then not only guide us to the “must-read” authors or seminal texts, nor are they only useful to identify gaps in the literature; they lay the groundwork for theory building and create an archive of our discipline, a way to “acknowledge our debt to those who came before” (Ahmed 2017, p. 15-16 ).  Scholars working in diverse fields and from different perspectives have reflected and experimented with citational practices. For instance, Leanne Simpson (2016), Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, writer and artist, suggests that we look at ‘resurgence’ as a way to renew with lost intellectual traditions to transform relationships. As for Clare Hemmings 2011), who examines the political grammar of feminist theorizing, she calls for an unsettling of feminist “celebrities” and chronologies produced by individualized citational practices, and suggests instead to turn to citational practices that “emphasize the role of journal communities”. How do these critical and innovative takes on citations play out in the field of social movements studies?

Inspired by their work, or rather building on the foundations they have laid out, we invite four social movement scholars to share their own citation practices and philosophies. How do we as social movement scholars engage with citations? How can we use citations to meaningfully extend theory and, in turn, our understanding of insurgency? If, to use Ahmed’s metaphor, citations are bricks that build our discipline, what kind of house is social movement studies?

Moderator: Marie-Lise Drapeau-Bisson, Carleton University

Panelists:

  • Jade Da Costa, University of Guelph
  • Howard Ramos, Western University
  • Azar Masoumi, Carleton University
Tags: Feminism, Knowledge, Social Movements, Theory

Organizers: Marie-Lise Drapeau-Bisson, Carleton University, Judith Taylor, University of Toronto