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This first episode of our new series Tea and Tirades is less of a Tirade and more a call for action, where we discuss the politics of citation in academia in the post-#Metoo era. How can the feminist approach on citation reflect the power dynamics that #Metoo brought up in the academic sphere? And how can our own citational practice create knowledge that is centered on solidarity?
We discuss this through two instances of #Metoo, first we revisit the Raya Sarkar List, when Raya Sarkar, a master’s student at UC, Davis, published a list of about 70 predatory professors in India and abroad. The backlash from seasoned feminist scholars in India revealed how caste and class identities shape whose voices are heard and the role naming and shaming of predators plays when the legals routes are almost impossible to access. We discuss this through our own experiences as young bachelor’s students around the time this list came out and how the conversations around #Metoo and the list unfolded in our classrooms and social circles.
Next we, turn to the Avital Ronell case where a doctoral student of Avital Ronell, accused her of sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, and retaliation. Where several key scholars from various disciplines of Feminism, queer studies, History, literature and philosophy published a letter in defense of Ronell denying Ronell’s sexual harassment charges. Like the backlash against the Raya Sarkar list, this moment revealed how academic prestige, disciplinary authority, and citation networks can be mobilized to protect those in power, while dismissing the voices of survivors. Through these two instances we discuss how hierarchies of class, caste, discipline, and reputation shape which allegations are believed and whose pain is recognized.
Through these two cases we try to understand how power plays out when a “progressive” person is accused of sexual harassment and how people in power in academic circles join ranks. We think through, how the practice of citation can better reflect our own position as scholars and create knowledge that is centered on solidarity and reflect whose voices we represent and reproduce.
Sources
- Sarah Ahmed, Making Feminist Points.
- Sara Ahmed has also written quite extensively on Politics of Citation in her book “Living a Feminist Life”.
- Secret Feminist Agenda, Episode 3.21: Citing Your Sources, Hannah McGregor, Check out her Website and Instagram.
- Check out Cite Black Women Collective and listen to their podcast.
- What to do with the predator in your bibliography?, Dr. Daniel Souleles.
- “We are not named”: Black women and the politics of citation in anthropology, Christen A. Smith, Dominique Garret Scott.
- Citation matters: mobilizing the politics of citation toward a practice of ‘conscientious engagement’ Carrie Mott and Daniel Cockayne.
- Trans citation practices — a quick-and-dirty guideline, Jonah Coman.
- Why the Raya Sarkar List is not Vigilantism, Deepanjana Pal.
- Rupali Bansode, The missing dalit women in testimonies of #MeToo sexual violence: Learnings for social movements.
- The Kafila Statement on the Raya Sarkar list: Statement by feminists on Facebook campaign to “Name and Shame”.
- The piece written by Nivedita Menon on the aftermath of the statement: From Feminazi to Savarna Rape Apologist in 24 hours.
- What Happens to #Metoo when a Feminist is Accused, Zoe Greenberg.
- Blaming the victim is apparently OK when the accused in a Title IX proceeding is a feminist literary theorist, Brien Leiter (You can also read the statement given by various scholars defending Avital Ronal here).
- Some things aren’t Complicate, Lili Loofbourow.