Paper short abstract:

This study provides insights into one of the ways scholars engage with the public to drive social change: scholar-activism. This research offers a Southern perspective by delving into the experiences of scholars at a research institute in South Africa as they navigate the realm of climate activism.

Paper long abstract:

For decades, scholars have actively engaged in public discourse on critical issues such as climate change. Scholar-activism serves as one avenue for bridging scholarship and society, encompassing various forms like expressing political views publicly, collaborating with activist organizations, and adopting action-oriented research and educational approaches. Albeit, the integration of scholarship with activism demands a delicate balance, as it can jeopardize scientific autonomy and credibility due to divergent norms.

Despite its importance, scholar-activism remains understudied. Existing literature is predominantly focused on experiences from the Global North, thereby neglecting the unique contexts of the Global South often characterized by restricted freedom of speech and protest, as well as inequalities and resource scarcity that profoundly influence the experiences of scholar-activists.

This research focuses on climate scholar-activism, offering a Southern perspective through an in-depth analysis of a research institute in South Africa: an academic institute engaged in climate activism and bottom-up social movements within a complex historical context marked by anti-apartheid struggles and ongoing quests for democracy, climate justice, and epistemic decolonization.

This study adopts a qualitative inductive methodology. Through interviews, ethnographic observations, and document analysis, this study sheds light on the experiences of scholars engaged in bottom-up social movements and the ways they negotiate across the boundaries- of science and politics, of expert and non-expert. Key research inquiries delve into the scholars' perceptions of how activist engagements shape their research and teaching, and the multifaceted role of institutional, historical, and contextual factors in shaping climate scholar-activism within the South African context.