Care and Solidarity Are Conditions for Interventionist Research

Abstract

Calls for interventionist research in academic disciplines, including science and technology studies (STS), are increasingly common. Yet none offer insights for what to do or whom to turn to after a researcher has intervened and the result is slander, defaming, or disenfranchisement—even though these are possible, and even likely, results of intervening in controversies and power struggles. Drawing from the ethics and methods used in direct action activism, I argue that intentional networks of care and solidarity are necessary supports that need to be in place before we call for interventionist research.