Introduction: Becoming Political To the memory of Allan Pred

摘要

Soon after finishing graduate school I told an eminent person in our field that I would like our incipient scholarly collaboration to have some political relevance. He responded with a raised eyebrow, "I don't know what you mean by 'political'". It was a crafty response and I recall being paralyzed by it. What does it mean to be political in academic life? Why was I so sure that I already knew? Did that assurance cast doubt on my potential as an intellectual? By desiring a project with political relevance was I showing myself to be both close-minded and theoretically naive, the equivalent of a somewhat dense academic bigot?