When people think of the word \u201cstudy,\u201d often what comes to mind is a person sitting alone reading a textbook and taking notes. Similarly, \u201cacademic scholar\u201d might evoke an image of a professorial figure in flowing robes pulling dust-covered leatherbound volumes from a century-old oak bookshelf \u2014\u202fperhaps in\u202fa setting not unlike the University of Washington\u2019s own Suzzallo Library. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet study and scholarship are far from solo pursuits, said Dr. Jed Murr, associate teaching professor at UW Bothell\u2019s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStudy is not what happens when you\u2019re preparing for a test in a university,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s 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 \u2014 and, potentially, how to change the world that you\u2019re in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his latest project, Murr brings together experts from various fields to discuss how their work intersects with the theme of \u201cStudy & Struggle.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the past few years, Murr has taught a course on critical diversity studies. The curriculum attempts\u202fto address some contemporary struggles over difference,\u202fpower\u202fand social justice in a shifting landscape. But this year, he wanted to try something different.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStudents come into my classes very aware that we\u2019re in various political crises, really feeling the heaviness of this climate around them all the time,\u201d Murr said. \u201cI 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.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Murr developed the \u201cStudy & Struggle\u201d series as a project\u202fof\u202fthe UW Bothell Labor Studies Colloquium \u2014 a campus initiative to study work, workers\u202fand 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u202fand labor in the context of racial capitalism, settler colonialism, the\u202fclimate\u202fand other crises they have generated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “I hope that everyone\u202fis able to\u202fput this work in conversation with their own practices and the conditions of study and struggle in their lives.”<\/p>Dr. Jed Murr, associate teaching professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences <\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n The speakers, including several UW Bothell faculty, offered diverse perspectives on the theme of \u201cStudy & Struggle\u201d \u2014 from thinking about soil contamination in South Seattle community gardens to struggles over bread in Syria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In their talk, Drs. Shannon Cram and Melanie Malone, both associate professors in\u202fthe School of IAS, shared their expertise and insights on the theme \u201cExposure, Toxicity and Resisting Structural Conditions,\u201d with an emphasis on reciprocal research methods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cram drew from her\u202fdecades-long research<\/a>\u202finto Washington\u2019s 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, \u201cUnmaking the Bomb: Environmental Cleanup and the Politics of Impossibility.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2018Unmaking the Bomb\u2019 is informed by my efforts to grapple with Hanford\u2019s 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,\u201d she wrote in the introduction to the book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a cancer survivor who has also lost several family members to cancer, Cram also explores the idea of \u201chow to live with toxicity and be in relationship to it.\u201d\u00a0She advocates\u00a0in\u00a0her research\u00a0for raising environmental standards to protect the most vulnerable populations \u2014 and to work in partnership with them on both research and policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Maryam Griffin\u2019s work examines people\u2019s ordinary movements, both physical and political, and how they confront state power. She spoke on the topic of \u201cOrganizing for Palestine.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPalestinians 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,\u201d said Griffin, associate professor in the School of IAS, in her talk, presented alongside Dr. Yasser Munif, associate professor at Emerson College. \u201cWe have a really perverse\u202fworld that we\u2019re looking at right now, where people will say one thing and do something else.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u202fis true and what voices\u202fto listen to on the internet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She\u202fadvises students to\u202fput energy into protecting their \u201cinternal compass\u201d and carefully considering the motives behind what people say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEvery time you sense that there is a moment of hypocrisy or a mismatch where something isn\u2019t sitting right with you \u2014 you\u2019re hearing one thing and reading another \u2014 that\u2019s exactly the place you need to lean into,\u201d she said. \u201cAsk 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.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u00a0Princeton University, in conversation with Dr. Dan Berger,\u202fprofessor in the School of IAS. Taylor\u2019s talk will tie-in to her lecture on \u201cA Larger Freedom: Multiracial Democracy and the Radical Reconstruction of the United States<\/a>\u201d at Town Hall Seattle, presented by UW Public Lectures.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe 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,\u201d Murr said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhether that\u2019s joining social movements or political organizations or participating differently in public life, I hope that these conversations don\u2019t just stay in the classroom.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The other speakers in the series included: including Dean Spade\u00a0(Seattle University), Leigh Patel (University\u00a0of Pittsburgh) Julie\u00a0Sze\u00a0(University of California, Davis) and Nick Mitchell (University of California, Santa Cruz)<\/em>. To learn more about the series and the speakers who\u202fparticipated, visit the <\/em>Study & Struggles website<\/em><\/a>. This project was made possible<\/em>\u202fwith support from the School of IAS and the\u202f<\/em>Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dr. Jed Murr brings together experts from various fields to discuss how their work intersects with the theme of \u201cStudy & Struggle.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":33628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[202,218,229],"tags":[],"school":[419],"class_list":["post-33627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","category-community-engagement","category-faculty","school-school-of-ias"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":"","link_2":"","link_3":"","link_4":"","link_5":""},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":"","button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":true,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":false,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"\nConversing with diverse thinkers<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Fostering reciprocal research<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sensing your internal compass<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Continuing the conversation<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n