Written by: Siva Nathan
I remember when I first heard the quote by Albert Einstein, “only a life lived for others is worth living.” It struck me as being somewhat odd at first, for I was thinking if everyone lived for someone else, who ever gets to live for themselves?
As much as we may think, we do not live in a bubble where our actions don’t affect anyone else, but rather, we live in a society where we are affected by and affect those around us. Our lives are intrinsically connected to our peers, neighbors, family, friends and community.
There’s a concept in sociology, “the sociological imagination” that somewhat translates into meaning this: that our personal lives affect the public domain, and the public domain affects our personal life. For example, our laws, government and regulations all have a direct impact on our personal lives, and our personal lives have a direct impact on the laws that are created – it’s like an interdependent relationship. If you think of things in this way, then you realize that you affect society, and society in turn affects you, so as you work towards making the society better for others, you in turn make it better for yourself.
What I’m arguing is, that we do have a moral obligation to use our knowledge and skills to make society better. Academics and researchers in this regard, can hold a powerful and important position. In fact, I strongly believe that being an academic and scholar invites a particular responsibility. Public scholarship is the idea that faculty and students should apply their teachings, research and learning to the service of the “civic, cultural, artistic, social, economic and educational needs of the community” (Jarsocz, 2004). This idea is a powerful one that can facilitate tremendous growth and improvement in society.
If all academics and scholars took a pledge to conduct research and target their teachings in areas that can significantly improve their own communities, then we can make significant leaps in terms of improving social justice. Community based ventures are often underfunded, and lack resources, however, if academics and scholars get involved, they can bring forth a valuable contribution that can help understand societal problems, and thus will allow us to make effective recommendations. Furthermore, with eliminations in research and statistics collections (i.e. Census Canada Long Form) concrete research conducted through faculty, and students can help gain access to funding.
While public scholarship benefits the community, it also greatly enriches the academic who is exposed to hands on engagement with communities, and ontological and epistemological research. It allows academics to maneuver the situation from a bottom-up approach that can provide significant unique insights, an understanding that may not be achieved through direct reading research. These types of research projects, while may be more attractive to some fields (geographers, sociologists, psychologists, political economists, social workers, teachers) can be conducted by any scholar who can find a connection between their particular area of study and the community in which they hope to research in.
We’ve all come to this country, and have significantly worked hard to develop ourselves as a community, we’ve come along way, but we still have many leaps and hurdles to pass. I’m proud to see many Tamil students studying and excelling in their fields. We have knowledge, skills and resources now that can really benefit our community to reach even greater heights, but we haven’t put them to use. And personally, I believe we youth have an obligation to do so.
As Jarsocz (2004) suggests, public scholarship breeds a unique classroom, one in which the classroom becomes “a site of political engagement, as well as a place of learning and teaching.” Public scholarship provides a mutual benefit, to the community and the scholar, and facilitating this type of innovative research can help expand our learning dimensions, and political advocacy. As academics, we have a obligation and responsibility to use our talents and skills for the betterment of society, and through public scholarship oriented projects, we can achieve our research objects while enhancing the quality of life for the communities we live in.
So my fellow Tamil academics and scholars, I invite you, to accept your invitation of a new kind of public service. Lets use our skills to build up our community to its full potential. It’s our responsibility.
Works Cited:
Jarosz, Lucy. 2004. Political ecology as ethical practice. Political Geography, 23, 917- 927.
Tags: Academia, Community Development, Public Scholarship, Tamil Community, Workaholics, Youth
