Constructing a Relational Space between ‘Theory’ and ‘Activism’ , or (Re)thinking Borders (original) (raw)

When I was asked to prepare a statement for the roundtable entitled "Frontière Phalanstère? Crossing the Borders between 'Theory' and 'Activism'" 2 , I started asking myself some questions, and precisely: Can borders between "theory" and "activism" be crossed? How to do that? How to construct a relational space between "theory" and "activism"? In other words, I focused on finding the best possible way to convene a dialogue between theory and activism by referring the two spheres of interest to a common topic, that is: borders. The very fact that I relate theory to activism with specific regard to the borders field is relevant indeed in order to reflect upon possible critical answers to the "how-questions" posed above. The goal of this paper is to serve as a vehicle for building and facilitating greater sustained dialogue bridging scholars with activists, launching, on the one hand, opportunities for dialogue on the intersections between theory and activism at a more general level, as feminist, queer, anti-racist and transnational studies have already been contributing a great deal by looking at various social movements and theoretical perspectives built in and through activist practice. On the other hand, in 1 Creative Commons licence: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2 The roundtable was organized as part of the European Conference of the Association for Borderland Studies