Staying with the trouble: Film-making and the politics of knowledge production in the IR classroom and beyond

Abstract The politics of knowledge production is a long-standing debate at the heart of the discipline of international relations (IR). The importance of the IR classroom as a site of the politics of knowledge production in the discipline has long been emphasized by critical and feminist IR scholars and has recently received renewed interest. In this article we contribute to this debate through an analysis of the ways in which learner-generated films contribute to address knowledge production politics. Inspired by the distinction between knowledge production and knowledge cultivation, we propose that the practice of knowledge cultivation through filmmaking in the IR classroom can serve as a compass and generates openings to ‘stay with the trouble’ of creating knowledge. We draw on insights from our experience with learner-generated films and from a dialogue with the literature on the politics of knowledge production in IR; visual and arts-based theorizing in IR; and the interdisciplinary literature on filmmaking. The article addresses three key dimensions of the politics of knowledge production: the ethics and politics of filmmaking; affect and embodiment of creating knowledge through films; and non-textual theorizing through filmmaking.