Scholarship in Social Justice

“As to the ‘most significant work I have ever done in the field,’ I can say it is the book I have never written because I have never been ready to write it.” -Avery O, Craven

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My time as a social justice student has been characterized by never knowing enough/always wanting to know more. I have found myself, time and time again, in situations where I am not ready to finish what I have started. In Spring 2020, I took a course on Reproductive Justice. I learned so many personal things about myself and community, in addition to so many academic things about harm reduction, HIV/AIDS advocacy, and reproductive justice itself. I undertook one of the biggest academic effort’s I’ve made, so far: a zine detailing what was occurring in public health at the time. From a history of HIV/AIDS activism to public health interventions through COVID-19 themed pop music, I analyzed all the connections I found between what was happening in the real world and what was happening in the works I was studying. I’m still not finished with the zine. I never found myself having the time to sit down and finalize the layout of the thousands of words I had written on the topic.

 

I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to finish learning about social justice.