INTRODUCTION

Collectif-en-devenir is a collective of PhD students in Education Sciences in Paris 8 University, sharing the desire to work collectively on our research, to reflect on our working conditions and to experiment other forms of organization and of doing research.

INNOVATION

This collective was created 5 years ago around two main dynamics. One is related to the situation of French universities (the adoption of a business management model in Higher Education has led to a slow destruction of University as a public service), especially in our university Paris 8 - Vincennes historically built on leftist activism and critical thoughts. The second relates to a particular paradigmatic position and common epistemological conceptions (inspired by action-research methods, critical pedagogy, decolonial and cultural studies), which remain a minority in French social science research.

We are committed to certain research practices that cross boundaries, not only between academic fields, but especially considering social accessibilities and exclusion mechanisms issues.

We think that the Higher Education institution is not a static structure; rather, it is constantly transformed and redefined in a dialectical relationship between established order and critical practices. Building collective dynamics at university while practicing research can also be considered as political experimentation in order to develop the research approach we want to defend.

Critical and collective approaches to research

We experiment research methods and different ways to produce knowledge to challenge power relations in Higher Education and move away from the competitive neoliberal culture promoted by the institution. We develop non-academic, cooperative methods, based on our fieldwork experiences and our activism within and outside university:

● minga work: self-organised research residences

● film-making: using the cinema medium for creating knowledge and organizing screenings and debates

● fanzine: do-it-yourself and counterculture to act within the institution and to produce other forms of writing that challenge power relations.

Our productions (mostly in French!)

Hopefully, soon online on our website under construction!