From data collection to direct action:

Repurposing academic research methods for tenant organising

Fiadh Tubridy, Laure de Tymowski and Patrick Bresnihan

Published in Issue 8.1 // The Long Read

Keywords: Housing justice, scholar activism, feminist epistemology, social movements

Abstract:

This paper examines the role of research in supporting tenant organising through reflecting on a collaborative project undertaken with the Community Action Tenants Union (CATU) in the Cromcastle Court public housing estate in Dublin, which led to material improvements in tenants’ conditions. The paper argues that the impact of this work hinged on three interconnected principles. First, a rejection of detached objectivity in favour of ‘taking sides,’ while also leveraging the authority of academic research to bolster tenant demands. Second, the research activities served as a framework to build relationships within a fragmented community, creating the basis for collective action. Third, the research team’s contribution extended to the everyday labour of community organising that often goes unrecognised in scholar activist writing. The article offers a reflective account of how to leverage academic resources for concrete social change while critically examining the challenges and dependencies such work can create.

http://doi.org/10.54825/FEZY3847

Fiadh Tubridy is a senior postdoctoral researcher in Geography in Maynooth University and organiser with the Community Action Tenants Union Ireland, Transgress the NGS and Trans Harm Reduction.

Laure Detymowski is a postdoctoral researcher at Trinity College Dublin, working at the intersection of environmental justice, political ecology and feminist STS.

Patrick Bresnihan is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, Maynooth.

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