Some thoughts on activism and doing good

When I was in grad school, I wanted to write my thesis on women's experiences with sexual violence during the Rwandan Genocide. The Genocide happened in 1994, but when I started my program, little scholarly research existed on the genocide, let alone sexual violence and how sexual violence was actually genocide. Even less research existed that was qualitative and focused on women's experiences and women's words. I had an amazing thesis advisor who 100% supported and encouraged my research. At Virginia Tech, the Sociology department is also home to the Africana Studies department.  One professor in the Africana studies department, when he learned that I, a privileged white woman was doing research on women very different from myself, expressed his belief  that I had no business doing this research. I'm a little ashamed to admit that this stopped me in my tracks. Once I got over the initial shock, and actually sat down to think about what he was saying, I realized that while my intentions were good, good intentions do not always bring good outcomes. Africa has been uniquely damaged by "good people" trying to do good things (not to mention really bad people doing really bad things).

A few weeks ago when Invisible Children released a viral video about child soldiers in Uganda, most people's response was "This is terrible!!!! Why is this happening?" At first, my reaction was: finally, mass awareness of decades long atrocities is happening!! This is great. But, as I watched the film, and read about the organization, Invisible Children, I became increasingly uncomfortable for a variety of reasons. First, awareness does not equal activisim. In fact, the IC video's goal seems to be just to increase awareness. I don't think awareness is a bad thing, in fact, I think its a great first step. But, if you raise awareness without giving people tools to act, then what are you trying to accomplish? The video also seemed to take a very superficial look at the issue. Yes, Kony has an army and recruits child soldiers. That is terrible (beyond terrible). He has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Crimes Against Humanity. But, as with any issue, there is a lot of background and context that is missing. Facts have been manipulated to portray this crisis in the worst possible way. But, in a situation as horrible as this, the truth would suffice. The faces of child soldiers are shown, and in this interconnected world makes this all the more dangerous for the children. Also, the video makes direct calls for military intervention, but the Ugandan Army, which would be the military to intervene, is riddled with the same problems: child soldiers, rape, sexual assaults, and violence against civilians.

What seems to bother me the most is the lack of some context and self-awareness on the part of Invisible Children in relationship to their position of power in the conversation. After realizing that I could not conduct the research I wanted without locating myself in the work, I went to work trying to figure out how to do just that. I learned that: "Feminist scholarly practices are inscribed in relations of power - relations which they counter, resist, or even perhaps implicitly support. There can, of course, be no apolitical scholarship (Mohanty 1984)." I was an outsider, and it was my outsider status that afforded me the opportunity to even contemplate these issues. I am enormously privileged, I can read and write about violence because I have never experienced such violence. In addition to never having had to face violence on a personal level, I have had opportunities and experiences that resulted from my privileged social position. I have a responsibility to answer the how's and why's of my research - to be accountable. Chandra Talpade Mohanty writes about feminism without borders, and it was her perspective that I tried to integrate into my research, and still try to use when I am faced with understanding an unfamiliar situation: "Feminism without borders is not the same as "border-less" feminism. It acknowledges that there is no one sense of a border, that the lines between and though nations, races, classes, sexualities, religions, and disabilities are real - and that a feminism without borders must envision change and social justice work across these lines of demarcation and division. I want to speak of feminism without silences and exclusions in order to draw attention to the tension between the simultaneous plurality and narrowness of borders and the emancipatory potential of crossing through, with, and over these borders in our everyday lives." What this says to me is that feminism without borders is a feminist research practice that is aware of national and geo politics, attentive to economic and structural systems, and the influences of these on individuals being studied. And that is what is missing from Invisible Children's analysis. They have not located themselves, acknowledging their position of power and influence. They have raised awareness, without providing tools to act (or their solution calls for an equally problematic organization to intervene).