Advancing relationality by theorizing-with (vs. about) the world


Rebeccah Nelems, Athabasca university

The practice of empirically engaging actors and communities whose voices might otherwise not be heard within academia is a significant contribution sociology makes to the social sciences. However, this contribution does not always reach the halls of sociological theory, which still heavily relies on textual canons and conceptual analyses. The persisting binary and disconnect between theory and practice within the field of sociology is a way in which the field directly reproduces individualist logics and hierarchies of knowledge. Drawing from decolonizing methodologies and Indigenous theory, in this paper, I advocate for a form of theorizing -with the world, vs. theorizing about it. Through empirically engaging the world and its many actors in their complex relationalities (Starblanket, 2018), the theorist stretches and encounters that which lies beyond their habitualized concepts, theoretical frameworks and research paradigms. Drawing on my work with youth climate justice activists, I argue that theorizing-with can make for more robust, comprehensive and relevant theory. In the face of hegemonic structures that continually morph and shift (Connell, 2016), the approach generates more nimble and insightful theorizing, informed by the emergent, on ‘the ground’ as it were. This approach reflects an ontology of deep relationality wherein the individual and expert is de-centred and knowledge is viewed as relationally generated with the world – what Flynn (2021) calls sympogogy . Such practices help avoid the pitfalls of metatheory, including the tendency to universalize, impose, decontextualize or extract ideas. However, more than avoiding pitfalls, engaging actors as theorists in their own right advances a decolonizing agenda within academia. When grounded in relationality as articulated by Indigenous theory, the social theorist actively disrupts and challenges individualist, colonial and extractive approaches to research. By ‘acting otherwise’ (Tully, 2008), theorists moreover actively enact and embody pathways by which those in the discipline might contribute to the advancement of relational knowledge systems and grounded normativity (Coulthard and Simpson, 2016). In this way, I explore theory-making as a simultaneous practice of worlding and un-worlding. This notwithstanding, braiding empirical research and theorizing together is not without logistical, ethical and practical challenges. In a knowledge system that is not well versed at teaching, advancing or promoting theorists to think collaboratively or relationally, many theorists receive limited training or practice in conducting empirical research. Additionally, the types of respectful, responsible and reciprocal (Wilson, 2008) practices needed to conduct genuinely relational research are far from mainstream within most departments. Further, how one might theorize with the more-than-human in ways that are consistent with relational knowledge systems (Kimmerer, 2013) remains an elusive conversation in many theory classes. Focused on teaching the canon, even where this canon has been ‘diversified’ and updated, most theory classes are text-centred and anthropocentric. With no shortage of available examples or expertise in the world for how to conduct decolonizing and non-extractive empirical research, I propose that one pathway by which such challenges might begin to be mitigated is through research collaborations between theorists and decolonizing, empirical researchers.

This paper will be presented at the following session: