This is an open invitation to people who are involved in or actively supporting social movements, and who would like to explore the idea of researching and thinking about those movements in a supportive semi-formal context, leading to a Master's degree (MLitt) or PhD in sociology. The idea is to provide intellectual resources for social movements - such as the anti-globalisation movement, ecology, community development, feminism or alternative media - through participatory research geared to movement needs, as well as giving activists an opportunity for personal development which is supportive of their activism. The general area of research is social movement practice - what we do as activists, and how we could do it better.
For the last seven years I've been developing a small-scale postgraduate research programme (MA / MLitt or PhD) along these lines, from 1996 to 2000 at the Centre for Research on Environment and Community (CREC) in Waterford Institute of Technology , and now in the Department of Sociology, NUI Maynooth, within the framework of their general programme for postgraduate research.
In participatory research models, the researchers - often but not always participants themselves - work with movement participants to set a research agenda, steer the research process and discuss the results within the movement. The aim is to achieve an ethical and democratic research process which connects academic concerns to the needs and interests of movement practitioners. Ideas for research projects might come from researchers' own movement experience, or could be developed in discussion with movement participants. (See this website for one example of participatory research within the community.)
Examples of research projects to date have included:
This kind of research starts from the assumption that social movements are a form of skilled human activity. Research is then a tool for participants to articulate and develop these skills in ways that will benefit the movement as a whole. This can run from questions such as overall movement strategy and interaction with other social and political actors, via issues of internal movement organisation and culture, to issues of individual coping strategies, lifestyles, etc. For an example of a related project, see the Ballymun Oral History Project. Activists associated with the anti-globalisation movement are currently developing a "Mobilised Investigation" network of researchers working in this field - see the MI website for more details. I've also added a bibliography of texts related to this kind of research to these web pages.
If this idea sounds interesting, a starting-point would be to get in touch with me at the address below and arrange to meet and exchange ideas. A research project is a significant commitment for both parties (see Diana Leonard's book A woman's guide to doctoral studies (Open University, 2001) for a good overview), and I prefer to take the time to make sure that potential researchers have a good sense of what they're getting themselves into and what they hope to get out of it, for themselves and for the movement. I've no objection to extensive preparatory discussions, which in some cases have covered several months (or even years!) prior to officially starting.
The basic work involves planning the project together with other movement participants; reading your way around what other people have already written on the subject; carrying out fieldwork or other forms of research with movement participants; and presenting the results as seminar papers etc. along the way, and as a thesis at the end. Important elements of the process are learning to think about the issues involved in new ways, and building in links between the research process and the movement you are studying. One of my goals in this programme is to work in such a way that the demands of the research do not pull researchers completely away from activism, and do not overload the other movement participants with demands on their time and energy.
There are no classes involved, though regular meetings, in Maynooth or Dublin, will be needed, and researchers should attend the weekly postgraduate seminar, at which they will be asked to give a talk on their research annually. (I am happy to make special arrangements, within reason, for people who are not resident in Ireland or are involved on a long-term basis with movements abroad.) There are also a range of other resources available for postgraduates, including a joint sociology / anthropology postgrad seminar and taught courses in research methods on the Department's taught MA, which first-year postgraduates are strongly encouraged to attend.
Another resource in this area is the community / research forum, meeting face-to-face in Maynooth and also existing on-line. The group focusses on themes such as research in community development contexts, community and other activists as researchers, community-based research strategies, working-class experience in / of academia, etc. The documents from a recent seminar on "Good practice in community research" are available here.
Because the supervisor has such an impact on people's experience of postgraduate research, I always encourage people to check out the rest of these pages and see if you feel comfortable working with me. These web pages include a range of papers and articles done with, for or by other activists, relating among other things to community development in Ireland, to the "anti-globalisation" movement, to community-based oral history, to contemporary counter-cultures and to the alternative media - as well as papers on activist research strategy, on how research can help activists making choices, on the relationship between activist and academic theorising and on the problems of academic literature about "social movements". If you browse around the site, you'll find more!
A Master's degree is an independent piece of research, usually carried out on a part-time basis over a 2-3 year timeframe. It's particularly useful for activist practitioners (e.g. in community development), or as a bridge between the workplace and academia. It can also be useful as a stepping-stone between an undergrad degree and a full-blown PhD: once started, a Master's degree can be developed into a PhD by agreement with the Department.
A doctorate is also an independent piece of research, of a considerably more substantial nature than a Master's. Again, they are usually carried out on a part-time basis, but they can take from 3 - 5 years (or more in some cases!) to complete. At present, they are primarily relevant to people interested in working in academia or as professional researchers / consultants. Both degrees are standard degrees in sociology and subject to the decisions and requirements of NUI Maynooth Dept. of Sociology. (From this year research Masters in Maynooth are designated M.Litt to distinguish them from taught MAs.)
An alternative for people interested in research in this area might be to do a taught MA and follow it up with a PhD, but the only taught MA I know of in this area can be found at the University of East London. Another important location for social movements research is the Social Movements Research Group at Edgehill. There are of course many taught MAs available in general sociology, research methods, women's studies, etc, as well as many academics who supervise individual research projects related to social movements. If you're interested in this area, but don't think this programme is for you, I can suggest other potential supervisors in a range of institutions, depending on your field of interest.
Fees (about €2800 p.a. for EU students at present, split in two instalments - unfortunately considerably more for non-EU students: details on the Registrar's Office home page) can be offset by applying for funding - only available for fulltime students, unfortunately - or by taking on teaching work, by arrangement with the Department. Several participants in this programme have been able to find support for their research from their own projects, whether in the form of direct funding or in the form of time off to work on their research.
Alternatively, I am happy to help prospective students work up funding proposals for outside agencies. At least at present, a certain amount of funding, from academic and non-academic sources, is available in this area. Among the most important potential funding sources worth investigating for research in this area are the Royal Irish Academy's Third Sector research programme, the Irish Research Council on the Humanities and Social Sciences, and Combat Poverty's research scholarships. Other students I've worked with have been funded by their employers, or by outside bodies interested in their research. Community Exchange is a very good source of information in this area.
The basic requirement for acceptance is a II.1 degree, ideally in sociology, or in a cognate social science / humanities area (examples might be political science, history, women's studies....) The normal way of applying would be to work up a research proposal together with a member of staff (in this case myself), which then has to be approved by the Department and the Academic Council. For further details, please contact the NUI Maynooth Deans' Office, which is responsible for postgraduate applications and funding. There are two entry points each year, in September-October and April-May.
Participation in the relevant movement over a significant period of time, or non-exploitative access to movement participants, is necessary for any participatory research project. Successful applications to this programme, and good research, has come from people who had the support of their own organisation or project. The ultimate goal is to develop models for movement research which not only produce research that is useful to movements, but carry out the research in ways which are not distracting to the movement's existing work.
If you're interested in discussing this further, please contact me at the address below:
Laurence Cox
Dept. of Sociology
St. Anne's
NUI Maynooth
Co. Kildare
Ireland.
Tel. (+353-1) 708 3985
email:
WWW: http://www.iol.ie/~mazzoldi/toolsforchange/