When people think of the word “study,” often what comes to mind is a person sitting alone reading a textbook and taking notes. Similarly, “academic scholar” might evoke an image of a professorial figure in flowing robes pulling dust-covered leatherbound volumes from a century-old oak bookshelf — perhaps in a setting not unlike the University of Washington’s own Suzzallo Library.
Yet study and scholarship are far from solo pursuits, said Dr. Jed Murr, associate teaching professor at UW Bothell’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.
“Study is not what happens when you’re preparing for a test in a university,” he said. “It’s what you do collectively with other people in all kinds of spaces when you get together to figure out how to move and think and be in the world — and, potentially, how to change the world that you’re in.”
In his latest project, Murr brings together experts from various fields to discuss how their work intersects with the theme of “Study & Struggle.”
Conversing with diverse thinkers
Over the past few years, Murr has taught a course on critical diversity studies. The curriculum attempts to address some contemporary struggles over difference, power and social justice in a shifting landscape. But this year, he wanted to try something different.
“Students come into my classes very aware that we’re in various political crises, really feeling the heaviness of this climate around them all the time,” Murr said. “I thought inviting folks who are deeply engaged in work that matters right now to actually reach undergraduates in the classroom would be meaningful for students, and for our collective learning and study.”
Murr developed the “Study & Struggle” series as a project of the UW Bothell Labor Studies Colloquium — a campus initiative to study work, workers and social change in the 21st century. As director of the colloquium and in his other roles, Murr has had a hand in bringing such speakers to campus in the past.
Over winter 2026 quarter, Murr hosted six hybrid events during his classes. The events, which were open to all UW students, faculty and staff, each featured speakers who addressed key sites of study and struggle related to race, gender and labor in the context of racial capitalism, settler colonialism, the climate and other crises they have generated.
“I hope that everyone is able to put this work in conversation with their own practices and the conditions of study and struggle in their lives.”
Dr. Jed Murr, associate teaching professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
Fostering reciprocal research
The speakers, including several UW Bothell faculty, offered diverse perspectives on the theme of “Study & Struggle” — from thinking about soil contamination in South Seattle community gardens to struggles over bread in Syria.
In their talk, Drs. Shannon Cram and Melanie Malone, both associate professors in the School of IAS, shared their expertise and insights on the theme “Exposure, Toxicity and Resisting Structural Conditions,” with an emphasis on reciprocal research methods.
Cram drew from her decades-long research into Washington’s Hanford Nuclear Site, a Superfund with an ongoing environmental cleanup that is the largest in U.S. history. Cram describes her research and personal relationship to the site in her 2023 book, “Unmaking the Bomb: Environmental Cleanup and the Politics of Impossibility.”
“‘Unmaking the Bomb’ is informed by my efforts to grapple with Hanford’s power-laden logics, my struggle to negotiate the boundaries between research and activism, and my need to reckon with the conditions of living and dying in the nuclear era,” she wrote in the introduction to the book.
As a cancer survivor who has also lost several family members to cancer, Cram also explores the idea of “how to live with toxicity and be in relationship to it.” She advocates in her research for raising environmental standards to protect the most vulnerable populations — and to work in partnership with them on both research and policy.
Sensing your internal compass
Dr. Maryam Griffin’s work examines people’s ordinary movements, both physical and political, and how they confront state power. She spoke on the topic of “Organizing for Palestine.”
“Palestinians continue to challenge and expose the ways that the West is claiming to support human rights and self-determination and then working hard to do exactly the opposite,” said Griffin, associate professor in the School of IAS, in her talk, presented alongside Dr. Yasser Munif, associate professor at Emerson College. “We have a really perverse world that we’re looking at right now, where people will say one thing and do something else.”
Adding to political struggles such as those in Palestine are the challenges of a digital age that promotes misinformation and polarization. Griffin added that in class polls, her students have noted they routinely struggle to know what is true and what voices to listen to on the internet.
She advises students to put energy into protecting their “internal compass” and carefully considering the motives behind what people say.
“Every time you sense that there is a moment of hypocrisy or a mismatch where something isn’t sitting right with you — you’re hearing one thing and reading another — that’s exactly the place you need to lean into,” she said. “Ask more questions and do more research to figure out what is actually going on, because this is a mechanism that is being used to suppress movements for justice around the world.”
Continuing the conversation
The Study & Struggle series will culminate in an event for UW Bothell students on April 30 featuring Dr. Keaanga-Yamahtta Taylor, professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, in conversation with Dr. Dan Berger, professor in the School of IAS. Taylor’s talk will tie-in to her lecture on “A Larger Freedom: Multiracial Democracy and the Radical Reconstruction of the United States” at Town Hall Seattle, presented by UW Public Lectures.
“We ended up with a fantastic lineup, and I hope that everyone is able to put this work in conversation with their own practices and the conditions of study and struggle in their lives,” Murr said.
“Whether that’s joining social movements or political organizations or participating differently in public life, I hope that these conversations don’t just stay in the classroom.”
The other speakers in the series included: including Dean Spade (Seattle University), Leigh Patel (University of Pittsburgh) Julie Sze (University of California, Davis) and Nick Mitchell (University of California, Santa Cruz). To learn more about the series and the speakers who participated, visit the Study & Struggles website. This project was made possible with support from the School of IAS and the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies.
