Abstract
“Social justice” is a complex and nebulous term. In Insubordinate Spaces: Improvisation and Accompaniment for Social Justice, Barbara Tomlinson and George Lipsitz conduct a timely examination of social justice framed in the dialogue of insubordinate spaces, accompaniment, and improvisation. The intertangled and interlocked nature of the nuances associated with social justice may hinder appreciation and assessment of social justice movements. Thus, the book showcases numerous debates within the literature surrounding social justice, including but not limited to the following: neoliberalism, action research, action (movement), critical reflection, and transformative pedagogies. The next section will briefly highlight points within each chapter trailed by an assessment of applicability to courses.
James Baldwin discussing the story of Jerome Smith (“Big Duck”) sets the backdrop of Chapter One (“Introduction: Listening to Jerome Smith”) and the aim of the book, which is to merge a memory from the past at a point of danger (p. 1). The takeaway for the reader is to first gain a working knowledge of the term “insubordinate spaces.” Chapter Two (“Concepts for Insubordinate Spaces in Intemperate Times”), however, continues the clarification of the framework of insubordinate spaces with the introduction of the following terms: improvisation, accompaniment, konesans, balans, and middle run. This conceptual framework is the blueprint used in the analysis of the case studies (Chapter Three through Chapter Five) focusing on social justice, underlining the quest to truly understand and reimagine ways to address social justice. The caveat, as articulated in Chapter One, was to make the reader aware of their untapped possibilities and “their personae that they previously did not know were there” (p. 20). This chapter foreshadows analysis within Chapter Seven and Chapter Eight. The authors, at the end of this section, challenge the reader by questioning whether social justice movements ascend into distinctive changes in the moment (embedded by danger) and over time.
Chapter Three (“Idle No More”) investigates and decompresses the intricacies of the movement Idle No More, spearheaded by Indigenous people in Canada. Chapter Four (“Artivistas”) examines the impact of art—the son jarocho fandango movement, the hip hop performance art of Chingo Bling, and the installation art of Ramiro Gomez—and how the various forms combat the “Latino Threat Narrative” (p. 73). Chapter Five (Ferguson) confidently opens stratifying racial and status categories by probing the substantial protests in Ferguson, Missouri in response to police killings of African American youth. It also includes the heated debate of addressing a particular individual within the structure versus the structural component itself.
Chapter Six (“Coloniality and Neoliberalism as Knowledge Projects”) shifts the trajectory of the book by exploring the challenges associated with using this framework in addressing the dominant culture foundation of knowledge and thus the acceptance of the status quo. Chapter Six wrestles with the need for a major change in the framing of knowledge-making institutions. Chapter Seven (“Accompaniment and the Neoliberal University”) applies the discussion in Chapter Six by articulating the push and pull between the availability and use of insubordinate spaces within the university arena in relationship to knowledge, research, and teaching. Last, Chapter Eight (“Conclusion: Carry the Struggle, Live the Victory”) details victories and the necessity to “live in the victory” (p. 236).
This book is one of three in the “Insubordinate Spaces” series edited by George Lipsitz. The book is well written and clearly organized. Due to the content level of analysis, the book is ideal for graduate students or an upper-level sociology course. It would not be ideal for an introductory course. The book is engrossing, but the description and analysis of the case studies are entrenched in a strong historical backdrop that can be a little long-winded at times. The book, however, creates a rich playing ground for critical thinking. The facilitator should warn the participants (i.e., students) that they are in for some harsh realities and uncomfortable critical thinking conversations.
In addition, the reader must have a working knowledge of several general concepts associated with this arena (social justice). The authors clearly articulate the framework, but an individual may be at a disadvantage without at least a foundational introductory base. Due to the aim of the book, it would also be ideal within a Women’s Studies, Black Studies, or sociology program or specifically linked to the following subsections: collective behavior and social movements, community and urban sociology, and policy. Last, the book would pair nicely with a theory or a research methods class due to the case-studies structure of the book.
Chapter Seven is most the eloquent and taxing chapter; it collapses all the arguments in the book by bringing the reader to the university setting. The reader may try to brush off the case studies in the book as isolated incidents, but the reader has no choice but to reconcile their reality within the academic structure after reading the chapter and to question whether their behavior within the university structure is a choice or just a level of compliance to maintain the neverending dominant culture status quo.
The book’s acknowledgements section states it clearly: movers (activists, artists, and academics) have created “new ways of knowing and new ways of being that can imbue the world with the potential to create a more decent and dignified existence” (p. vii). The challenge is whether society will embrace this platform.