What role do political commitment and activism play in today’s academic thinking and praxis? After a period in which academics tended to prefer an allegedly ‘apolitical’ position, this changes around 2020, when new social movements against mainly environmental destruction and institutional racism and sexism gain broad support in society. In this context, also academics increasingly demonstrate ‘whose side they are on’. In this article we first examine the current role of critical criminology, and which are the key-developments in the political arena, and then we analyse what this means for the political engagement of academics, and indeed for the way we do research. In this context, we also point at some epistemological, methodological, and societal implications. |
Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit
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Artikel |
Kritische criminologie en politiek engagement |
Trefwoorden | critical criminology, political engagement, new social movements |
Auteurs | René van Swaaningen, Martina Althoff en Olga Petintseva |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Artikel |
Ethnographic activism and critical criminology |
Trefwoorden | ethnography, activism, critical criminology, gangs, deportation |
Auteurs | David C. Brotherton |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
The methods of ethnography have been employed in critical criminology to expose social ills and power differentials endemic to the political economy, culture and history of the global capitalist society. Over three decades, I have continued this tradition in research projects that advance criminological knowledge while contributing to the personal and collective struggles of diverse sub-populations to overcome their oppressed and/or subaltern status. I demonstrate this praxis of activist research through three criminological projects: gangs, deportation and credible messengers. I argue these cases show the possibilities and potential of an activist research agenda based on a commitment to decolonizing methodologies and a radical treatment of theory development. |
Artikel |
When life gives you lemonsConducting criminological research in authoritarian contexts |
Trefwoorden | criminological research, authoritarian contexts, positionality, methods, risk |
Auteurs | Amr Marzouk |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
This article aims to contribute the discussion on the preferred criminological approach to conducting research under authoritarian conditions. It starts with the review of controversial issues emerging from the literature. Author’s personal research experience is subsequently fused with thus identified conclusions. The two form the basis for a set of critical (both in terms of importance and relativity) guidelines: researchers need to be reflexive regarding their positionality in the field, which, in turn, allows for a better assessment of the risks. Secondly, they need to approach the issue of imperfect data in a critical manner. |
Artikel |
Feministische criminologie en strafrechtelijke complicityEen herevaluatie van vergeefse allianties |
Trefwoorden | feminist criminology, abolitionism, complicity |
Auteurs | Elise Maes |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
This paper delves into the complex relationship between feminism and criminology. It questions whether this alliance has hindered the pursuit of feminist and abolitionist goals. In this paper, mainstream criminology is contextualized within a history of governance. However, feminism is discussed as a movement that has historically challenged state authority. However, feminist criminology has aligned feminism with a state-oriented and scientifically realistic stance. The paper addresses the concept of ‘complicity’ to appoint the role feminist criminology can have played within governance. It suggests that this alliance could compromise feminist political objectives, by scientifically reaching out to governing institutions. The paper concludes by advocating a potential separation of feminism from criminology to better serve contemporary feminist and abolitionist agendas, offering a fresh perspective within critical criminological movements. |
Artikel |
Verantwoordelijk en kritisch?Een discussie over de impact van ethische beoordelingscommissies op kritische criminologie |
Trefwoorden | critical criminology, research ethics committees, research ethics, Europe, academic freedom |
Auteurs | Ruben Timmerman en Amr Marzouk |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
In recent years, there has been a rapid expansion of institutional research ethics boards (REBs) in universities across Europe. While ostensibly part of a growing awareness and concern for the potentially harmful impacts of social science research, this growing institutionalisation of research ethics has also attracted critics who have questioned its impact on academic freedom, methodological innovation, and scholarly independence. These concerns are especially vital for critical criminology, which has a long-standing tradition of investigating the crimes and social harms of the powerful. In this paper, we critically examine the role of REBs specifically in relation to critical criminological research and explore the possibilities for conducting socially and ethically responsible research, while continuing to maintain our commitment to challenging the social harms and crimes committed by institutions of power. |
Essay |
Activisme en wetenschapWapens en schilden in een strijd voor verandering |
Trefwoorden | activism, academia, social protest housing market |
Auteurs | Gwen van Eijk |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Those who engage in ‘activism’ fight not only for social change, but also against negative connotations. This essay explores what this means for academics, who will often find that the label ‘activism’ is an attempt to disqualify their work and message, especially when they challenge the status quo. This essay is partly rooted in the author’s own involvement in the Rotterdam action groups Recht op de stad (Right to the city) and Woonopstand (Housing revolt), but it discusses many more forms of involvement of academics in social protests. |
Essay |
Lof der platheidOver campusprotest en academische gemeenschap |
Trefwoorden | occupy universities, university as a ‘brand’, response to protest by university boards |
Auteurs | Willem Schinkel |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
The response to the OccupyEUR protest and an invitation to a survey on the university as a ‘brand’ are provocations. They flatten what a university actually is. The first provocation is that the OccupyEUR protest was framed by the university board as an opinion by protesters versus the ‘academic community’, instead of a protest against the university’s ties with the fossil fuel industry, to precarious labour, to student debt, and to the lack of campus accessibility. The second provocation is the very portrayal of the university as a ‘brand’. As a brand the university is reduced to a marketing image, flat like a 2D-picture. |
Voorbij de horizon |
In discussie met Bernard Harcourts Critique and Praxis |
Auteurs | Floris Liekens en Olga Petintseva |
Auteursinformatie |
Significant others |
Criminologie als maatschappijwetenschapEen gesprek met Fritz Sack |
Auteurs | Martina Althoff |
Doka |
Scientist Rebellion |
Diversen |
Externe reviewers 2023 |