Occupy Research: Research by & for the Movement
Noon! Saturday, March 17, 2012 Join us in NYC
Left Forum Conference, Room E310 on the Pace University campus, NYC
Conference Panel Announcement
Join us for a critical discussion of social movement research and research justice for movement building, in the context of the Occupy Movement.
Knowledge can be used to build and maintain, as well as to upset, power. Scholars and activists on the Left are working with the 99% to develop participatory research and include a broader base in the process of forming research questions, choosing methods, developing research tools, gathering, analyzing, and disseminating results.
People are doing occupy research to:
* understand engagement with the movement, who is participating in Occupy, who is not participating, and why;
* challenge race, class, gender, sexuality, age, disability and other inequalities reproduced in the occupy movement;
* share ideas, strategies, and tactics;
* provide research and analysis for the 99%;
* spread research skills, tools, and methods more broadly throughout the 99%
We are scholars, movement researchers, and activists working with and as Occupiers around the country and transnationally to develop research projects including: surveys of visitors to occupywallst.org and occupytogether.org; a general survey in multiple locations and across borders; analysis of occupy as a racial project (see occupyresearch.net for more info). We will discuss occupy research as a network to support movement research, what open research processes and methods can look like, and the critical role this work can play in supporting movement building. We’ll share (and invite attendees to share) findings to date, and some of the work ahead.
Panel coordinators:
Christine Schweidler, Director of Strategic Initiatives, DataCenter (datacenter.org)
Hector R. Cordero-Guzman, Ph.D., Professor, School of Public Affairs, Baruch College of the City University of New York
Martha Fuentes-Bautista, University of Massachusetts, Amherst – mfuentes@comm.umass.edu
Sasha Costanza-Chock, Assistant Professor of Civic Media, MIT & OccupyResearch
Yvonne Yen Liu, Senior Researcher, Applied Research Center & Occupy Oakland Research Working Group
Join us for this panel: http://bit.ly/orleftforumpanel2012
Learn more about this amazing conference space: http://www.leftforum.org/
Register: http://bit.ly/lfregister2012
Christine Schweidler, Director of Strategic Initiatives, DataCenter
Christine Schweidler is Director of Strategic Initiatives (and research justice activist!) at DataCenter.org, an independent research organization for social justice movements and grassroots organizing. Chris supports social justice movements through community-driven participatory research and popular education. Before joining DataCenter this year she directed research at healthycity.org for LA-based civil rights nonprofit, Advancement Project.
Hector R. Cordero-Guzman, Ph.D., hcordero@aol.com
Hector Cordero-Guzman is Professor, School of Public Affairs, Baruch College of the City University of New York; Professor, School of Public Affairs, Baruch College, and at Ph.D. Programs in Sociology and Urban Education at the City University of New York (CUNY). He has worked as a Program Officer in the Asset Building and Community Development Program at the Ford Foundation, and is currently working on a series of surveys of site visitors to OccupyWallSt.org and OccupyTogether.org.
Martha Fuentes-Bautista, University of Massachusetts, Amherst – mfuentes@comm.umass.edu
Martha Fuentes-Bautista is faculty in the Department of Communication and the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her research focuses on the social and policy implications of information and communication technologies with a particular interest in how ICT may exacerbate or alleviate social inequalities. She has been collaborating with occupyresearch.net in the Occupy survey working group.
Sasha Costanza-Chock, Assistant Professor of Civic Media, MIT & OccupyResearch
Sasha is a researcher and media maker who works on the political economy of communication, community media, and the transnational movement for media justice and communication rights. He is currently Assistant Professor of Civic Media at MIT, co-PI of the Center for Civic Media (civic.mit.edu), and a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. He has been working with occupyresearch.net. More info: http://schock.cc
Yvonne Yen Liu, Senior Researcher, Applied Research Center & Occupy Oakland Research Working Group – yliu@arc.org
Yvonne Yen Liu is a senior researcher at the Applied Research Center, a racial justice think and action tank, which publishes Colorlines.com. She serves on the board of Smart Meme and the advisory committee for the Food Chain Workers Alliance. Yvonne has a BA in cultural anthropology from Columbia University and a MA in sociology from the CUNY Graduate Center. She works with Occupy Race and Occupy Oakland’s Research Working Group. More info: yvonnegraphy.com
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