From a “Double Task” to a “Double Contention” Perspective

Abstract

In Brazil, many anthropologists are encouraged to act for the benefit of minority groups, assuming an activist role in conducting research on and with them. Yet efforts to integrate these dual roles are undermined by the continued separation of scientific knowledge production processes from other scholar activist activities. In this article, I seek to contend this separation by reflecting on my work as a volunteer in medios libres (the “free media”). With this form of activism, I sought to support the Mexican Indigenous social movement Modevite alongside my doctoral research, in a process of double contention. I reflect on the possibilities of rethinking the activism–academia dichotomy in knowledge production and on how we can produce knowledge that is more strategic for the people we engage with.