Thread by @karlajstrand

Next session @nwsa (yes I’m at an 8am panel on a Sunday): Writing as justice: Navigating the politics of academic research and publishing within an era of anti-intellectualism. #NWSA2019 #nwsa19

@nwsa With Deboleena Roy, Laura Foster, Sushmita Chatterjee. Discussing writing as social justice, their projects, books, etc. Molecular Feminisms: Biology, Becomings, and Life in the Lab is Roy's book. amzn.to/35bz2eY #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Roy wanted to connect her feminism and science. Writing for justice is just an extension of why she went into science to begin with. Wanted others to see their own work as feminist, even if they didn't call themselves feminists. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Roy: Students want to learn how to communicate they are scientists but also dedicated to social justice. Social justice organizing is also happening in sciences. Scientists also need the social justice organizinf skill set. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Chatterjee: Her approach is theory based; what is justice? Who gets to define the parameters of justice? Political theory and post-colonial perspective. Has experienced shifts in her academic life but postcolonial studies has anchored her work throughout. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Chatterjee: Thinks about justice in terms of a certain chaos and irreverence. It doesn't always mean the same thing to all people and cultures; sometimes simple confusion or varying definitions of language plays a part. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Foster: Frames of justice is a theme of the panel. How does law shape scientific production? Depending on the perspective, these can take a variety of views. Became a project on decolonizing patent law. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Foster: Writing for justice is asking what can my contribution be? What is useful? What is needed? Working in collaboration with local communities. How can I produce work that is a model for interdisciplinary and transnational projects? #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Foster: How do I write across conversations? Working with many people and groups. That was writing for justice for Foster. Questions of intersectionality - intersectionality is interdisciplinary. Writing for social justice is critiquing networks of power. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Foster: How do we reconcile academic writing and social justice writing? Part of it was providing practical suggestions for activity. Also doing blog posts gets your work out quickly and to more people. Policy briefs also help as well as holding workshops. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Roy: Co-founder and co-editor of Catalyst, a journal of feminism, theory, and technoscience. Open access project, not with a university press. Rethinking scientific method: how do I bring decolonial studies into my scientific work? #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Roy: In science and scientific method, questions of labor matter. Questions of funding matter. Questions of scale and sample matter. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Moving to questions of "alternative truths" and "alternative facts." Roy: Example: science wars of the 90s - poststructuralists are embedded in increasing questioning of facts and truth in science throughout the years. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Chatterjee: Politics of knowledge production are an issue. Are we generating our own paradoxes that are antithetical to the movement? Are we willing to live with these paradoxes? Citation politics and practices must be considered as well. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Roy: Has made a whole profession out of discomfort that often comes from interdisciplinarity. Had to learn to speak social justice messages and then explain it to scientists in their language. Now it's okay to call herself a feminist scientist. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Roy: Developing and using a shared language that bridges feminism/social justice and science. Expand conversations of diversity in STEM. It takes time to deal with these difficulties. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Foster: Having the vocabulary was challenging for me as well, esp in law/patent law. Ask a lot of questions - how do you use this term? What is meant in your field when you use this particular term? Must bridge multiple knowledge traditions. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Chatterjee: As an Indian woman talking about Maus, audience was perplexed, thinking she would be talking about something tragic and sad. Collaborations have helped to get through challenges. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Q: How do you maintain legibility as a scientist? How do you balance multiple types of legibility/credibility? Just publishing in scientific journals will not satisfy my social justice, and just publishing in feminist journals won't satisfy science requirements. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Roy: It's hard but be strategic. Sometimes we get tenure in sciences through journals but need to write a book for GWS. Your scientific publishing and running a lab as a woman can be feminist. The project of you getting tenure is important for all of us. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Roy: Do what you need to to get tenure, publishing mostly scientifically knowing that you are a feminist scientist, running a lab. Publish some articles in feminist journals as well. Then post-tenure, you'll have more autonomy/freedom. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Foster: Publishing across disciplines can actually help for tenure. Use it strategically for your benefit. Reframe "unfocused" to "robust."
Chatterjee: Two sides of the same coin. There are multiple canons and methods. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Foster: I'm not unfocused or all over the place; I'm addressing all the networks of power with this particular issue/field I'm interested in.
Roy: Important to know your institution as well; some encourage interdisciplinarity and robustness. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Chatterjee: We can question others about the very same things. Other fields have a variety of methods, issues, etc. Ask others similar questions. Be confident about your expertise. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Roy: Who am I writing this book for? Who is my audience? I am writing for me! Write for yourself first. Having that person in mind first might help. Write the book that you need that isn't out there yet. (HT Toni Morrison) #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

Chatterjee: There's some ontological empathy that GWS offers and spaces for reflection, imperfection, uncertainty. We need to create more of these spaces. We are very spread out as a field and we can connect virtually or in person. #nwsa19 #nwsa2019

.@deboleena_roy