Practising feminist politics in legal geographic research

Abstract

In this paper, I reflect on my experiences conducting legal geographic research within a Central Pennsylvania courtroom. This research builds on my former professional experience as a legal advocate where I worked for five years providing advocacy services to over 800 survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. I discuss how I incorporated two common advocacy practices – accompaniment and institutional advocacy – into my research praxis as a means to fulfil my commitment to conduct activist research as a feminist legal geographer. I argue that the advocacy skills I learned outside of academia helped me navigate the tensions of studying power with legal actors in the privileged space of the courtroom. This paper contributes to recent interest in the methodological practices that legal geographers utilise within courtroom spaces, while also encouraging legal geographers to consider what knowledge and skills – beyond academic methodologies and methods – might serve to support activist research within spaces of power.