Bridging Academia and Activism: The Scholar’s Role in Driving Social Change

 There is a notion that a scholar’s job is to remain an observer, sitting in libraries collecting data and publishing journals that only experts read and appreciate.

What is the point of studying and understanding the world if scholars aren’t using that knowledge to fix it?

If the world is really going to be changed, academia and activism must unite and stop being mutually exclusive.

What I am saying is that we need to stop leaving activism for others alone; scholars need to hop on.

When a scholar gets out there, out of their classrooms, libraries, and research groups, and goes into the streets, they bring evidence and answers to the questions that trouble the average person. I am talking about the how’s and whys. It is almost like hitting a bullseye.

Although academia and activism are two different worlds, each with its dos and don’ts, marrying the two is important because activism gives academia a soul. It shows researchers that behind every statistic is a human face. It also makes them realize that their work is worth it and not in vain. To even make their work more organic, activism will give scholars the chance to listen to grassroots organizers, making their work less a theoretical exercise and more a tool for liberation.

Bridging that gap between academia and activism doesn’t have to feel like rocket science. You can start by turning a 300-page study into an infographic, simple, digestible insights that anyone can read, understand, and use. That’s how we start making more impact in society.

Being a scholar-activist isn’t easy. It means giving up some prestige for the unpredictable, raw nature of activism. Activists are out there on the streets, facing reality (and all that comes with it) head on and it can be scary but there is a lot at stake in staying unbothered or sitting on the fence.

When intellect meets empathy, we move from naming the world to remaking it. I choose to be both a scholar and an activist because knowledge without action is a waste, and action without knowledge is a risk.