Welcome to today’s edition of the Reconcile Journal.
I attended a panel event on open-access research at LSE yesterday, asking "Are we measuring the wrong things in social sciences?". It questioned what ‘impact’ looks like in open-access academic research. BUT, while open access improves transparency and physical accessibility, if the formats remain inaccessible, I think it’s still only 'open' to those who know where to look.
This raises a parallel question, given the rise of academic & ‘intellectual’ spaces in popular culture: Do we need non-academics to create academic-like spaces so everyone can truly feel welcome?
This is where I feel Solange has nailed this beautifully.
Context for anyone who needs a few gaps filled in: Saint Heron, a multidisciplinary studio established by Solange, has evolved over years from music and visual art into its current form: an open-access physical library. The library offers historical books on the Black experience, free to use and borrow in the US. The launch coincided with scholarly research on architect and professor Amaza Lee Meredith (1895–1984) and Solange's appointment as scholar-in-residence at the Thornton School of Music. Solange’s commitment to unbounded creative output really resonates with me. The excerpts below are from a recent interview with Solange and her editor Shantel Aurora about the research process. Plus, reading this interview transcript feels so useful as a research method itself*
*reference at the end if you are also interested in this interview style methodology.
