The desire to locate political space: a methodological discussion

Abstract

This article explores the role of the critical scholar in constituting agency and political space in academic work. It problematizes how our desire affects what we find, and do not find, what we can see and hear in our research material. We focus specifically on how agency and political space are studied from a governmentality perspective and in resistance studies. Ultimately, we elaborate how can we remain obedient to the rules of the neoliberal institution of the university while perceiving ourselves as political subjects and suggest how we can make explicit how our complicities and desires affect our research findings.