Occupy Research

The first Occupy Research Collective (ORC) Convergence recently took place in London. Around 50 people participated, and dozens more watched online. The theme of the day was “ethics and activist research”. In the spirit of Occupy, however, the final agenda was decided collectively on the day of the event.

Discussion topics included the commodification of universities, radical education, the ethics of researching social movements, how to learn from the history of radical movements, and questioning the notion of research itself.

ORC aims to foster the building of a network of radical researchers. This includes activists, students, academics and anyone interested in doing research associated with activism, social change, education or community. Participants want to experiment with alternative, collective ways of doing, disseminating and collaborating on research and publishing, and to counteract neoliberal trends in education and the research environment. Occupy Research is more than a network of researchers: it is Occupy activism in practice, with intent to open up the process of research to social movements, and to enable those movements to hold researchers to account.

Perhaps the most refreshing element of the Convergence was the acknowledgment that we don’t have all the answers and do not seek to answer every question. Occupy Research, not unlike the broader Occupy movement, is an open and collective process which favours asking over preaching. Researchers care about which questions to ask, and who is asking them. Attendees expressed hope that the Convergence will inspire further consideration of the ethics of research within and alongside the radical politics of asking.

ORC blog and discussion forum: occupyresearchcollective.wordpress.com/

By Sam Halvorsen and Emma Fordham