Militantly ‘studying up’?: (ab)using whiteness for oppositional research
This paper develops the idea of militantly ‘studying up’. Through a discussion of research into the relationship between migrants and social/labour movements in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it explores the way in which my positionality both helped and hindered the (militant) research process. As the pos...
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40596/ |
| _version_ | 1848796094761271296 |
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| author | Clare, Nick |
| author_facet | Clare, Nick |
| author_sort | Clare, Nick |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This paper develops the idea of militantly ‘studying up’. Through a discussion of research into the relationship between migrants and social/labour movements in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it explores the way in which my positionality both helped and hindered the (militant) research process. As the possibility for militant research seemed to recede, by interrogating the antagonisms bound up in the disjuncture between my perceived and my performed positionality, I was able to retain a commitment to militant research/research militancy. The movement to a form of oppositional (auto)ethnography was underpinned by an (ab)use of my whiteness. This touched on new possibilities for militant research, and also afforded further reflection on the structuring power of whiteness itself. Situating itself against-and-beyond discussions of militant research, this paper explores not only the rich potential but also the difficulties and limitations of such a methodology. In this regard it foregrounds discussion of failure as a key reflexive strategy. Ultimately it argues that there is potentially value in ‘studying up’ within militant (migration) research, but that concerns surround the (re-)reification of the very identities and structures that are intended to be deconstructed. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:42:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-40596 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:42:31Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-405962020-05-04T18:33:53Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40596/ Militantly ‘studying up’?: (ab)using whiteness for oppositional research Clare, Nick This paper develops the idea of militantly ‘studying up’. Through a discussion of research into the relationship between migrants and social/labour movements in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it explores the way in which my positionality both helped and hindered the (militant) research process. As the possibility for militant research seemed to recede, by interrogating the antagonisms bound up in the disjuncture between my perceived and my performed positionality, I was able to retain a commitment to militant research/research militancy. The movement to a form of oppositional (auto)ethnography was underpinned by an (ab)use of my whiteness. This touched on new possibilities for militant research, and also afforded further reflection on the structuring power of whiteness itself. Situating itself against-and-beyond discussions of militant research, this paper explores not only the rich potential but also the difficulties and limitations of such a methodology. In this regard it foregrounds discussion of failure as a key reflexive strategy. Ultimately it argues that there is potentially value in ‘studying up’ within militant (migration) research, but that concerns surround the (re-)reification of the very identities and structures that are intended to be deconstructed. Wiley 2017-02-22 Article PeerReviewed Clare, Nick (2017) Militantly ‘studying up’?: (ab)using whiteness for oppositional research. Area, 49 (3). pp. 377-383. ISSN 1475-4762 Militant research Whiteness Argentina Autoethnography Positionality Migration http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/area.12326/abstract doi:10.1111/area.12326 doi:10.1111/area.12326 |
| spellingShingle | Militant research Whiteness Argentina Autoethnography Positionality Migration Clare, Nick Militantly ‘studying up’?: (ab)using whiteness for oppositional research |
| title | Militantly ‘studying up’?: (ab)using whiteness for oppositional research |
| title_full | Militantly ‘studying up’?: (ab)using whiteness for oppositional research |
| title_fullStr | Militantly ‘studying up’?: (ab)using whiteness for oppositional research |
| title_full_unstemmed | Militantly ‘studying up’?: (ab)using whiteness for oppositional research |
| title_short | Militantly ‘studying up’?: (ab)using whiteness for oppositional research |
| title_sort | militantly ‘studying up’?: (ab)using whiteness for oppositional research |
| topic | Militant research Whiteness Argentina Autoethnography Positionality Migration |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40596/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40596/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40596/ |