Models for Unity between Scholarship and Grassroots Activism

Abstract

Institutional constraints hinder the activist scholar who seeks to create alternative models for scholarship and social transformation. In this paper, I discuss results from a survey administered to Africana scholars on the Association of Black Sociologists listserv and other discussion groups servicing progressive scholars and students on the internet. The primary objective of the survey was to elicit comments on ways that Africana scholars balance activism with scholarship.

The survey results indicate that there are many levels on which activists scholars can make a contribution to humanity. These include the intellectual labor of articulating our unique perspectives that we promote within our disciplines, our service as consultants to grassroots organizers, and our progressive applied work in our fi eld. Once we embrace the activist-scholar orientation, our struggle is to strike an appropriate balance among the three different types of contribution.