(UN)Disciplining the Scholar Activist: Policing the Boundaries of Political Engagement

• Published in: The Quarterly journal of speech Vol. 96; no. 4; pp. 427 - 435
• Main Authors: Young, Anna M, Battaglia, Adria, Cloud, Dana L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 01-11-2010; Routledge
• Subjects: Activism; Conferences (Gatherings); Homosexuality; Rhetoric; Scholarship; Sexual Identity; Sexual Orientation; Social Change
• ISSN: 0033-5630; 1479-5779
• DOI: 10.1080/00335630.2010.521179

Activists understand "engagement" to entail working toward positive social change in a sometimes uncivil, aggressive manner. However, scholars' enthusiasm for engagement is often policed by their affiliate institutions via various forms of depoliticization and/or apoliticization inside the academy. In this article, the authors argue that policing the border between activism and scholarship impedes most significantly the activist scholar who understands "engagement" as unavoidably and inherently political, who recognizes objectivity and apoliticization as institutional smokescreen. Honoring the interdisciplinary history of communication studies, the authors also argue that boundary policing runs contrary to the ethical commitments of the rhetorical tradition. In support of these claims, they examine the rhetorical framing of the 2008 controversy over the National Communication Association's (NCA's) patronage of the San Diego Grand Hyatt, owned by anti-labor and anti-gay magnate Doug Manchester. Then, they place the efforts of those who chose to boycott the convention held in the Grand Hyatt in the broader context of the severing of communication scholarship from its historical commitment to public engagement. Finally, they issue an invitation to think with them about the potential relationships between activism and scholarship. (Contains 34 notes.)