A Boundary Crossing:Academic Silence and the Modes of Expressive Resistance

This paper reflects on possible modes of expressive resistance against academic silence in the systematic destruction of Gaza and the genocide of the Palestinian people. It challenges self-imposed boundaries in mainstream scientific discourse and practice, which have the effect of frustrating academic advocacy for the Palestinian people and its underlying social justice aims. The author reflects on three themes in her experimentation to cross "the finite provinces of meaning" (Schutz, 1945) between scientific and political engagement: artistic forms, rhetorical delivery, and spatiotemporal opportunism. It is contended that academic resistance requires non-academic tactics and strategies to persuade, mobilise and facilitate change, by sidelining, but not entirely abandoning, the typical modes of scientific practice. The author argues that these acts of resistance require a re-prioritisation of researcher positionality and identity, from the distanced and neutral scientist, to an imperfect, unscientific, but intimately personal and direct engagement with the world.