[Air-L] A good way to respond to a query from a student about activism?

Sat Jun 6 09:13:37 PDT 2020

Dear Sarah,
Thank you for sharing this note with us. It was powerful and led to
introspective silence for me. I was deeply in awe of the kind of pedagogy
that inspires your students to reach out to you asking for more, and also
in respect for students who see their roles as change actors and are
creating these structures of intervention. I was a little hesitant in
stepping into the conversation because I do not have immediate solutions or
the correct answers; also my own context with one foot in India and one in
the Netherlands, is very different from the one you occupy. I starred the
conversation hoping there will be more people sharing their wisdom and
experience, and I would learn from it.  Steven's mail reminded me that even
though this isn't so much a 'community', it is still a 'safe space' enough
for me to share some of what I have been doing through my work in
community organisation and civil society action, working with young people,
sometimes, also with my students. Though, like Radhika, I would have
preferred, perhaps, to have this conversation in a less public forum,
because, while I appreciate this mailing list and the conferences, and the
different opportunities it consolidates, very frankly, it has never felt
like a receptive space for voices that do not fit into the US-American
education systems and registers. Past experiences have made me in a lurker,
where I have instead connected with people off-the-list, and found it more
productive.

However, in these uncertain times, as things are shifting, I am happy to
'un-lurk' and engage with this question, partly through speculation, partly
through practice, and partly through my own organisation.

In the last couple of years, because I also had an administrative position
within the university, the number of students (and often faculty) who
reached out asking for operational advice and discussions has also
increased, and I have learned a few things, three of which might help you
in responding to the student as well.

1. I have learned that when students and colleagues reach out, asking for
what more can we do together, what more can they do together, they are not
merely coming to seek information. They often have creative and tentative
plans that they are not sure would be feasible. It helps me a lot to make
them the owners of the question (not the answer) and see what they think
could be the avenues of intervention. Often, I find my role as an
facilitator and a sound-board helping to sometimes crystalise and sometimes
materialise the actions they have already imagined or are thinking through.

2. One thing that my communities have appreciated is that I also
immediately step in to make sure that the person asking the question is
being cared for, and has the resources to cope with what they are
experiencing. Often, with students, they have not thought of the material,
emotional, and intellectual resources which would keep them safe as they
take up the risks of activism and intervention. I do have communities and
resources within which they could find some of this material, and I also
help them to find the resources within the university, to make sure that
their work is sustainable and supported.

3. In this particular instance, because the spectrum of the current
world-on-fire politics is so large, it might be helpful to offer to have a
chat with the student and see what they see their role as. From my own
experience in online organising, I would also guide them to the larger
groups, collectives, and communities that are already in action and urge
them to pool resources rather than trying to start something on their own.
It would also be useful to help 'localize' their 'social media' actions and
see if they can situate themselves in the immediate physical environments
and identify where the blind spots or missing gaps are. One of their
expertise is critical cultural and digital analysis and they might be able
to review and analyse the ongoing campaigns and see where they might be
able to step in.

And at the back of my head, in all these conversations, I have the voice of
a young activist who doesn't like being named and tagged on social media,
so I will respect their privacy, but something they had told me a long time
ago was powerful: Before you set out to save the world, make sure the world
needs saving and it needs you to do the saving.

I hope that this might be fruitful in thinking through how to respond to
the query in particular, but also perhaps expand the question of 'social
media for positive change' to 'social media actors and their actions' for
meaningful transformation.

Warm regards,
Nishant

On Sat, Jun 6, 2020 at 4:18 PM Jones, Steve <sjones at uic.edu> wrote:

> Dear Sarah, air-l subscribers:
>
> When I saw this message I first felt for the student and appreciated her
> query. I wondered this, too: What can I do? I didn’t want to dive in with
> any suggestions because to be honest I have no more beyond expressing
> support, donating, joining local protests and adding my voice to those
> calling on elected officials to tell them they should know they will be
> held accountable. And as an old, white, cis male there are a whole heck of
> a lot more voices that need to be heard than mine, ones with far better
> ideas about what to do and how to support black people and everyone else
> who is not like me. I want to hear them; I want them to be heard.
>
> It’s been longer than 24 hours since this posting and there’s been
> nothing, no replies. Nor has there been anything from AoIR’s executive
> committee. Maybe people are struggling in ways I can’t even imagine and a
> reply is beyond their ability right now. Fair enough. And there are other
> places where conversations are ongoing. air-l has over the years become
> more an announcement list and less a discussion list. So it goes. But there
> are a lot of us on this list and that there has not been a single response
> to Sarah’s message is troubling to me.
>
> Now, it’s fair to ask whether this is something air-l should be engaged in
> discussing, and whether it is something AoIR needs to address. Yes, and
> yes. The struggle taking place in the U.S. is not confined to the U.S.
> Among the many things Stuart Hall taught me, opened my eyes to, is that the
> black experience is not a U.S. experience only. He also pointed out that
> all injustice is to be spoken out against. Now is the time to recommit to
> racial justice. I have heard some people criticize statements from various
> individuals and  institutions as too little, too late, or opportunistic, or
> as face-saving. Maybe, but I won’t judge: I want to hear the voices, plain
> and simple: Black Lives Matter.
>
> We have studied race online, protest movements online, you might even say
> we’ve studied the shit out of #Ferguson, Arab Spring, and many other
> expressions of oppression and responses to it. But what are we _doing_
> about any of it? Sarah’s student’s question is what I feel we need to
> discuss. Is there "the potential to leverage social media for positive
> social change?” Yes or no? If yes, how? If no, let’s find and discuss some
> other things we can do. AoIR has from the start been the most welcoming and
> engaging scholarly community I’ve had the honor to be part of; let’s show
> who we are and what we can do.
>
> Peace and good health to all,
>
> Steve
>
> > On Jun 4, 2020, at 5:04 PM, Sarah Ann Oates <soates at umd.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Dear AOIRers,
> >
> > I wanted to ask this great list a question for our times. See the message
> > below from a student I taught in an online social media and society
> course,
> > in which we had a module on #BlackLivesMatter. Can you think of a better
> > way to respond than just with a list of campus groups and a note that I
> was
> > impressed that she wanted to commit to activism for her beliefs? That's
> > what I did, but I'd like to help a bit more because it's heartening both
> to
> > see students wanting to put their scholarship into action. Thanks in
> > advance. BTW, I asked her if I could ask the list and she said that was
> > great.
> >
> > Here is her message:
> >
> > As a young black woman, I am struggling to cope with all that is
> happening
> > in our country right now. Looking at social media I am further saddened
> to
> > see images of Black men being murdered and their deaths reposted and
> > reposted for all to see. I fear people will become desensitized to these
> > images and names like George Floyd will just become another hashtag and
> > forgotten victim of a corrupt system.
> >
> > *... I was wondering if you had any advice or resources for action beyond
> > social media. I know the Black Lives Matter module discussed the sort of
> > "wind tunnels" we create where like-minded people swirl ideas among
> mutual
> > followers, but little action is taken beyond likes and retweets. I want
> to
> > do something that goes beyond liking a post or ranting about it on
> Twitter.
> > If you have any ideas or resources regarding the potential to leverage
> > social media for positive social change I'd love to learn more about
> them!*
> >
> > Sarah Oates
> > Professor and Senior Scholar
> > Philip Merrill College of Journalism
> > University of Maryland
> > College Park, MD 20457
> > Email: soates at umd.edu
> > Phone: 301 455 2332
> > www.media-politics.com
> > Twitter: @media_politics
> >
> > *Support the UMD Student Crisis Fund
> > <https://giving.umd.edu/giving/showPage.php?name=crisis-funding> today.
> *
> > _______________________________________________
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-- 
Dr. Nishant Shah (Ph.D.)
Professor, Aesthetics & Cultures of Technology, Director Research
ArtEZ University of the Arts, The Netherlands.
Knowledge Partner, Digital Earth Project, Hivos
Mentor, Feminist Internet Research Network, APC
https://nishantshah.online