Where Is the "Public" in "Public Scholarship"? People's Scholarship and the Fight Against School Closures

• In Event: Roundtable Session 46
  In Roundtable Session: Community Organizing and Public Scholarship

Abstract

In asking “Where is the ‘Public’ in “Public’ Scholarship,” this paper argues for a radically democratized conceptualization of the meaning of public scholarship. To do so, a descriptive case study of a people’s scholarship within the context of fighting urban school closures is presented. A key point discussed is the sovereignty of targeted communities of color to claim, rigorously research, and direct their own struggles in politically material sites. Also discussed is the subordinated role and ethical duty of public scholars to contribute to, and not extract from and commodify, such inherently mobilized social scholarship.

Keywords: grassroots organizing, urban education reform, community resistance, school closures

Author

• Maiyoua Vang, California State University - Sacramento