Researching a "radical" topic
At a recent event, a fellow human asked what it's like to research a radical topic, whether there is a backlash. I research degrowth. These days, degrowth doesn't seem very radical to me anymore. When I started my PhD in 2016, it was more challenging to write about degrowth. But even by then there was curiosity and a body of literature in different languages. Moreover, at that time and even before many were talking about similar ideas, but often using different vocabularies. Now, one can also find fellow humans who remain antagonistic towards degrowth, and of course various systems, modes of being, and practices in society are not aligned with degrowth. And yet, I'm not finding it difficult to work with this concept. Generally, fellow humans are supportive and curious. I think it's all about our mode of being in the world as humans and researchers. I avoid presenting degrowth as the best vision, the most radical, or even unique. As a practitioner and simply a person I was influenced perhaps the most by deep ecology, and also by American environmentalism, humanism, and Bhaskar's philosophy of metaReality. Degrowth literature is not my only source of inspiration. Acknowledging the shortcomings, nuances, and loose ends of one's field is important. It's also about how we talk to others (including those feeling uncomfortable with degrowth as a concept or a vision), whether we treat them as fellow humans (with respect, love, care, empathy, etc.) or as enemies, their field of study as something where one can learn something from, or as useless.
