{"id":42205,"date":"2017-11-25T06:12:53","date_gmt":"2017-11-25T11:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=42205"},"modified":"2017-11-12T14:23:57","modified_gmt":"2017-11-12T19:23:57","slug":"tear-down-the-tower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2017\/11\/tear-down-the-tower.html","title":{"rendered":"Tear Down The Tower!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Tear<\/p>\n

Ivy Helman writes in her blog post \u201cAcademics and Activism\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Life in an ivory tower would only serve to distance one\u2019s self from activism. Why do such a thing? Then the answer came to me: privilege. One can afford to step back. One can choose to work in the ivory tower glancing down at the people below. One\u2019s life and one\u2019s position in it are secure, anddesert-view-tower one has the time and the space to explore eccentricities, minute nuances and obscure notions. And, one could spend one\u2019s life doing such without any significant need to behave differently. The subjects of study will continue to be there. There is plenty of academic fodder.<\/p>\n

To me that is counterproductive. Working in academia at the intersection of religion, feminism and (in this case) refugees, especially in Europe, demands education, activism, advocacy, empowerment and so much more. There cannot and should not be any sort of tower when one\u2019s goal is to make one\u2019s own job obsolete. That\u2019s definitely one of my goals at the intersection of religion and feminism: to not be needed anymore! Unfortunately, we are not there yet.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Later in the same post<\/a> she writes:<\/p>\n

I truly believe that activism is essential. We have to stand up and fight for the world we want. We have to give voice to the voice-less, empower the powerless and acknowledge as well as challenge privilege every time we encounter it! While it\u2019s easier to plant oneself high-up in an ivory tower that is comfortable, warm and secure and, once there, stay inside, that\u2019s not living! That\u2019s not justice. That\u2019s nothing more than apathy, complacency and heaps and heaps of privilege along the way. If we are truly committed to change, education, empowerment, justice, equality and flourishing, we can\u2019t stay put. Tear down the tower!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click through<\/a> to read the whole thing.<\/p>\n

\"ivory-tower-tg-version\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ivy Helman writes in her blog post \u201cAcademics and Activism\u201d: Life in an ivory tower would only serve to distance one\u2019s self from activism. Why do such a thing? Then the answer came to me: privilege. One can afford to step back. One can choose to work in the ivory tower glancing down at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":42212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[315,319,345,14951,14950,9546],"class_list":["post-42205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academia","tag-academia","tag-academics","tag-activism","tag-activists","tag-ivory-tower","tag-privilege"],"yoast_head":"\nTear Down The Tower!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ivy Helman writes in her blog post "Academics and Activism": Life in an ivory tower would only serve to distance one\u2019s self from activism. 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