Situated in a forum dedicated to the reflexive analysis of academic labor, this piece takes stock in the salience of space and place for the kinds of work we can collaboratively perform, and when and where such work can occur. Much of what follows approximates conversations we have had with each other and fellow activist colleagues in campus hallways and offices, at each other’s houses, in local coffee shops or hotel bars at national conferences, and increasingly over digital environs to think through manifestations of injustice in a multitude of forms at the University. For us, the second shift is often a matter of survival for it is where we address the work that is met with dismissal, condescension, or retaliation during the first shift. And here we find ourselves recording these utterances and thoughts on the written page. As we have discussed this project amongst ourselves, we have also...
When We Come Together, We Build Theory: Working the Second Shift in the Undercommon Enclave
Bryan J. McCann is associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Louisiana State University. He affiliates with the African and African American Studies Program and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. He is author of the book The Mark of Criminality: Rhetoric, Race, and Gangsta Rap in the War-on-Crime Era (University of Alabama Press, 2017).
Serap Erincin, an artist scholar from Istanbul, is assistant professor of Performance Studies and affiliated faculty in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at LSU. She publishes widely on experimental performance and social justice performance and is the editor of Solum and Other Plays from Turkey and and a special issue of Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies on silence and stillness. Her multimedia performances and installations engage narratives of human rights violations and environmental concerns.
Ashley Noel Mack is assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Louisiana State University. They affiliate with the African and African American Studies Program and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. Their work has appeared in journals such as Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies and Women’s Studies in Communication.
William O. Saas is assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Louisiana State University. He is a research fellow for the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity. His work has appeared in journals such as Advances in the History of Rhetoric and Rhetoric & Public Affairs. He co-hosts the podcast Money on the Left.
Bryan J. McCann, Serap Erincin, Ashley Noel Mack, William O. Saas; When We Come Together, We Build Theory: Working the Second Shift in the Undercommon Enclave. Journal of Autoethnography 11 January 2021; 2 (1): 113–118. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/joae.2021.2.1.113
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University of California Press