CHANGE COMES FIRST FROM GREAT THINKING
Here’s a running short list of thinkers I admire, whose ideas and work have shaped my ideas and work. Check them out!
Disability Justice is intertwined with all kinds of justice; and any strong political activism will work to understand these intertwinings.
Race, disability, class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality etc. are inseparable in thinking about harm, and the work we do as activists from marginalised communities, towards greater access to justice.
Nobody is free, until we are all free.
In solidarity x
Kristie Dotson
(image credit: University of Michigan)
“It slowly dawned on me that forced and coerced silencing additionally victimized most, if not all, people who had a history that included significant personal harm and suffering.”
‘Dr. Kristie Dotson is a Black feminist professional philosopher. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Michigan State University. She earned a M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Memphis, as well as an M.A. in Literature from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a B.A. in African American Studies, Business Administration and English Literature from Coe College. Professor Dotson’s research and teaching focus on epistemology, Black feminist thought, and critical philosophies of race.’
(Truth Out, ‘Feminists we Love’, 2014, Feminists We Love: Dr. Kristie Dotson | Truthout)
kathleen thelen
image credit: www.kathleenthelen.com
“While the idea that “shift happens” captures important aspects of Kathleen Thelen’s intellectual work, it is perhaps misleading in one way: It implies that change simply happens, as if random. Yet, as Thelen’s work shows, gradual institutional shifts are typically the product of intentional actors, even if final outcomes sometimes reflect unintended consequences that do not match any actor’s preferred choice. Likewise, intentionality rather than randomness is the appropriate frame for thinking about the change processes that Thelen has helped unleash in political science.”
(Mahoney, J. (2017). Shift Happens: The Historical Institutionalism of Kathleen Thelen.)
‘Kathleen Thelen is Ford Professor of Political Science at MIT and Permanent External Member of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, Germany. As a Faculty Associate of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, she co-organizes the Center’s Seminar on State and Capitalism since 1800 with Peter A. Hall. Along with Jacob Hacker, Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, and Paul Pierson, she organizes a Hewlett Foundation Project, Advancing a New Field of American Political Economy. Thelen also serves as General Editor of the Cambridge University Press series, Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics.’
(Kathleen Thelen, www.kathleenthelen.com, 2023)
amy thunig
image credit: Iron Monkey photography
“On the land now commonly referred to as 'Australia' the structures and systems collectively known as media, education, politics, health, agriculture and policing continue to be reflective of white supremacist ideologies which were intentionally and overtly core to their foundations. An uncomfortable, and perhaps contentious statement to hear, but how might recognizing this truth impact how we as a society understand our past and present, and envisage our collective future?”
(‘Disruption is not a dirty word’, Amy Thunig, TedX, 2019.)
‘Amy Thunig ia Gomeroi/Gamilaroi/Kamilaroi woman, writer and academic, whose forthcoming collection of personal essays Tell Me Again, explores the importance of culture and extended family networks in the face of poverty, disadvantage and discrimination; and the power of stories to shape and sustain us, even when they involve hardship and struggle. Amy is an academic in the Department of Educational Studies at Macquarie University, where she is also undertaking a PhD in education with a focus on Sovereign/Indigenous women in academia.’
