Un terrain « du proche ». Le militantisme et la recherche à l’épreuve de l’occupation d’une université

Abstract

This article steps on sociology of social movements, ethnography of mobilisations, and social geography. It articulates a socio-spatial approach of social movements with a reflexive dimension on the links between research and activism. Also, this article proposes the restitution of the experience of its three authors. After presenting the contextual elements that led to the occupation of a university by two distinct occupation movements (a student occupation; an occupation by "the Collective" - ​​a support group for undocumented immigrants), the article details the links between spaces of occupation and militant practices, illustrating how the occupied university has become a “fieldwork of closeliness” destabilizing the relationships of struggles, dominations and negotiations for the members of the Collective. Finally, the article questions the way in which this sensitive and familiar “fieldwork of closeliness” challenges research postures and professional routines. Finally, this reflective work shows how the occupation undoes militant routines and research practices, forcing their interactions into a new type of framing.

Keywords

• Social movements
• occupation
• reflexivity
• fieldwork experience
• undocumented immigrants.