Knowing about crisis

Abstract

With this brief piece, we raise some questions and suggest some alternative directions for knowing about crisis. In particular, we point to the role of core beliefs in shaping society, including the way in which those held by academics shape research and how knowledge about crisis is produced, as well as the influence core beliefs have on the everyday lives of the people with whom we work. We draw on the work of Miki Kashtan (2014), who identifies three core beliefs that have become persistent themes in our work with communities: separateness, scarcity, and powerlessness. We offer some examples of and reflections on work we have done in the Govan neighborhood of Glasgow, Scotland by way of gesturing toward how we understand core beliefs to work and how they might be engaged with. Our intention is not to denigrate the value of beliefs, but rather to point out the value in recognizing the beliefs that inform our ways of knowing and actions.

Keywords:

• crisis
• knowledge production
• core beliefs

Notes

1. To be clear, we have not all had comparable levels of involvement in these projects. Derickson's relationship to these programmes is something of an ally, contributing time and resources where possible from various positions in academia. This does not compare to the way in which MacLeod or Nicolas have made these projects, and other projects in and with the people of Govan, their life's work. For the sake of simplicity, we have used the term “we” in relation to the involvement of the authors, but that is not to imply a collapsing or an equation of the nature of that involvement.