I found this unpublished gem today. Now that I am on the other side of tenure, I figured I would share some of my (previously unpublished) thoughts… ****** I am in my third year on the tenure track as an assistant professor. I have had a fair number successes, a few failures, and some…
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Growing Democracy Project: Website & Podcast
Check out the new website for the Growing Democracy Project: www.GrowingDemocracyOH.org! Casey Boyd-Swan and I are excited to see the launch of the website & the Growing Democracy Podcast. Check it out!
Gratitude to the ‘The Folks of Flint’
I had the privilege of working on a project of Dan White’s, The Folks of Flint, in 2017. I was introduced to Dan through the Jan Worth-Nelson, the editor-in-chief of East Village Magazine. After wrapping up fieldwork for my book Power, Participation, and Protest in Flint, Michigan. I spent the next month interviewing Flint residents…
[Personal] Reflection on Identifying as a “Critical Scholar”
Originally Prepared for: ARNOVA Conference, Austin, TX, November, 2018 My entrance into critical nonprofit and voluntary action studies was winding and non-linear. This reflection essay highlights my journey to identifying as a critical scholar, how I see this identify in relation to my identities as a scholar-activist and feminist, how critical perspectives have shaped my approach…
Fieldwork and Parenting
I am a parent. I am also a qualitative researcher, whose work often requires time in the field. In my last blog post I talked a bit about the challenges of avoiding “parachute research.” In that post I discussed the importance of continual reflexivity–the process of self-reflection wherein I am constantly checking my own power and privileged…
Empowered Participation: What Cities (including Flint) Can do to Foster Meaningful Participation
To date, most of my work has focused on how local governments and states are becoming less participatory as a result of budget cuts and resource shortfalls. These fiscal pressures are compounded by popular movements that call for “less government” or “smaller government” in favor of public-private partnerships and the contracting of the public services to private entities, often compromising (or eliminating) time-consuming deliberative and participatory processes.
A Day Without a Woman: International Women’s Day
Today is International Women’s Day. It is a day dedicate to celebrate the successes and achievement of women and gender non-conforming people. It is a day dedicated to action. (It also happens to be a day with a long history, with roots in the 1908 women’s march in NYC and official designation as International Women’s Day by the UN in 1975).
Blogging and Community Engagement
I am one of those academics. You know, the kind that labels themselves with buzzwords like: a scholar-activist or publicly engaged scholar. These are common terms used to differentiate traditional academics from the more applied, participatory academics. Both of these identities–scholar-activist and public engaged scholar–emphasize the relationship that the scholar has with the broader public.