ABSTRACT
Activist scholarship, as part of a broader commitment to solidarity work, takes a distinctly political stance on the role of research in society, questioning the legitimacy of the distant and disengaged stance occupied by much of the social determinants of health literature underpinning the field of global health. In this chapter, I explore social movements toward equity and liberation from within (and alongside) communities most burdened by the impacts of global inequity. I unpack assumptions and language to examine how the use of particular languaging in academic settings (e.g., equity-oriented, community-based) can be used to hold systems of inequity in place. I share how activist scholarship and a practice of solidarity are, and have been for me, a lifeway and means of acting on causes of inequities. I offer examples from my involvement in social movements in Nicaragua, exploring different ways of knowing and leveraging research and scholarship to advance equity in ways that confront systems of power within the academy. I close with reflections on the ways in which this approach to scholarship demands re-imagination of the academe, and grapple with the enduring tensions we all navigate as we engage in any form of equity work from our positions as researchers, scholars, activists, and humans in the world.
