Lifetime Activism, Marginality, and Psychology: Narratives ofLifelong Feminist Activists Committed to Social Change Anjali Dutt and Shelly Grabe

From my understanding, the purpose of this article was “to examine how and why some individuals commit their lives to creating social change in their communities,” (Dutt and Grabe 107). They did this by interviewing activists in different countries, specifically looking at feminist activists, and exploring their lives and experiences from being a woman experiencing such hardships, as well as being a woman committing their life to being an activist. The methodology they used in their research was qualitative because they had a small handful of people they used for their research, and this research was obtained through interviews archived in the Global Feminisms Project. Also, what helped me to come to this conclusion is that their data on these participants was thorough and plentiful. They learned about how these women grew up, how they developed, how they got into or learned about feminism, and much more.

A key finding that Dutt and Grabe had is as follows: “The experiences and processes revealed in the women’s narratives are thus rich for analysis in seeking to identify how some individuals are able to grow and sustain their commitment to social activism throughout their lifetime.” (Dutt and Grabe 118). I see this as a key finding because it goes directly back to their research questions of examining how and why a handful of individuals are able to commit their entire lives to creating social change in their communities. They say that from their research they were able to find key information for analyzing that exact topic. The conclusion of the article was that the narratives allowed for light to be shed on how women around the world are going through similar situations, but they are not identical. They strived to show how there is a need for alternative narratives in order to “raise consciousness, foster a deeper understanding of one’s political surroundings, and support social change,” (Dutt and Grabe 120).

The research was incredibly detailed and careful and this was shown by how there were so many references, to show that they searched far and wide to find multiple sources of information for their study. The results are very important in my opinion because I feel that people either try to lump everyone in together or completely tear them apart and dissociate them from each other. So, these results help to shed light on how people can face similar circumstances and experiences while also not being completely identical. I would say there are some biases and limitations because when you are not in the exact community of the person you are interviewing or researching, you can never fully understand everything that they go through.

How this article compares to other research I’ve encountered is that it brings a new perspective to the conversation that I didn’t completely know of or connect. It does support my previous knowledge because after watching “Origin,” Ava DuVernay, I started to think about how there are so many minorities facing injustices around the world that are connected, but this article helped me to also realize that as much as we are connected, we still have spaces where our experiences don’t exactly line up. This might inform future research or practice because it will remind me to check my biases and assumptions at the door when I go into my research and interviews.

Works Cited
“Lifetime Activism, Marginality, and Psychology: Narratives of Lifelong Feminist Activists Committed to Social Change.” University of California, Santa Cruz, American Psychological Association, 9 Jun. 2014, pp. 107-122, https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/qua-0000010.pdf