Becoming an Accidental Activist
Researching Religion in Community
Keywords:
Sikhism, academic activism, accidental activism, knowledge productionAbstract
This paper reflects on the author’s academic engagement with Sikh communities and on how their status as a Sikh academic scholar has led them to become a representative for Sikh communities to various statutory bodies including media, policy makers, RE teachers, community groups and the legal profession. The paper reflects on how different audiences have engaged with the author’s research and how their status as an academic activist has impacted on their work. While some argue that academics should not engage in activism, claiming it compromises the objectivity of academic research (Wells, 2018), the author follows Choudry (2020) who argues that academics should seek to challenge dominant processes of knowledge production that are not solely driven by higher-education models and practices, but which require academics and communities to work together in a mutually dependent relationship.References
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