Connelly, L. orcid.org/0000-0002-9564-9106 and Sanders, T. (2020) Disrupting the boundaries of the academe : co-creating knowledge and sex work ‘academic-activism’. In: Walklate, S., Fitz-Gibbon, K., Maher, J. and McCulloch, J., (eds.) The Emerald Handbook of Feminism, Criminology and Social Change. Emerald Studies in Criminology, Feminism and Social Change . Emerald Publishing , Bingley , pp. 203-218. ISBN 9781787699564
Abstract
In this chapter, we reflect on how the criminological agenda can move towards disrupting the boundaries that exist between the academe and sex work activism. We do so as academics who strive to affect social change outside of the academe but we do not attempt to offer a prescriptive ‘how to guide’. Indeed, we are ourselves still grappling with the challenges of, and learning to be better at, ‘academic-activism.’ We begin by shining light on the activist underpinnings of the sex workers’ rights movement, before we outline some of the key scholarship in sex work studies, drawing particular attention to that which seeks to bring about social change. We then explore the utility of participatory action research (PAR) to sex work studies and reflect on how a PAR-inspired approach was used in the Beyond the Gaze research project. Here, we cast a critically-reflexive eye over the unique realities, including the challenges, of integrating sex worker ‘peer researchers’ within the research team. We conclude by considering how the criminological agenda must adapt if we truly want to bring about positive social change for sex workers, as well as how the current system of Higher Education ultimately stymies ‘academic-activist’ approaches to research.
Metadata
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited. This is an author-produced version of a chapter subsequently published in The Emerald Handbook of Feminism, Criminology and Social Change. This version is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. |
Keywords: | Sex work; Participatory-Action Research; Academic-activism; Peer researchers; Social change; Decriminalisation |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 09 Dec 2021 09:01 |
Last Modified: | 09 Dec 2021 09:01 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Emerald Publishing |
Series Name: | Emerald Studies in Criminology, Feminism and Social Change |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1108/978-1-78769-955-720201018 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:181379 |
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