Alicia Nicholls
What good is research if it never reaches the people it is meant to assist? That question echoed in my brain as I boarded the plane from Zambia to South Africa, the first stop on my way back home to Barbados. In the preceding several days, I had been in Lusaka, the capital of the beautiful landlocked African country of Zambia, a country known for its copper exports and being home most notably to the iconic Victoria Falls on its border with Zimbabwe. I had joined fellows from across the Global South for an in-person convening under an inaugural OXFAM Fellowship Programme in which I have been participating for the past few months.
I was deeply grateful for the chance to finally meet the mentors and scholars whose names and faces, until then, I had only seen on a screen during our monthly Zoom meetings. Drawn from across the Global South, we came together in beautiful Zambia not just as bright-eyed early career academics, but as thinkers committed to reshaping the conversations around justice, equity, and the global order.
As a PhD candidate and early-career scholar, I found the experience both inspiring and intellectually-stimulating. Sitting in workshops where our mentors spoke about the role of public intellectuals, I could not help but think of the giants whose work shaped my own worldview—Angela Davis, Cheikh Anta Diop, Walter Rodney, and so many others who never shied away from challenging power in their own scholarship. To be honest, the imposter syndrome was real at times, but so too was the motivation: the reminder that, in my own way, I too could contribute to carrying that torch forward in my research on trade and global financial governance issues.
Over the four days, we engaged in a series of workshops and practical sessions designed to equip us with the tools to move our work beyond the pages of academic journals and to bring it to the communities and struggles that inspired it in the first place. One of the most defining moments for me was an evening dialogue with Zambian community leaders organized by the Fight Inequality Alliance at an Arts Centre which too had its own inspiring origin story. The message from the leaders, a mix of young people and experienced ‘aunties’, was sobering. Too often, academia feels “extractive.” Researchers arrive, collect data from communities, and disappear, leaving behind little of value for the very people whose lived experiences inspired the research. The published research is buried in journals which are often inaccessible behind pay walls.
This struck a chord with me. In academia, our ‘street cred’ comes from publications, particularly in high-impact journals. While important, these are publications that few people outside of academic and policy circles will ever read. Unless that research is then translated into accessible forms such as policy briefs, blog posts, short videos or documentaries, it remains out of reach for the communities who could benefit most. Yet, the incentive structure for promotions and other accolades in academia rarely rewards accessibility or impact of our research. If we are to move from extractive research to impactful scholarship, we must push for an incentive system in our universities that values on-the-ground outcomes as much as journal citations.
As I watched Lusaka disappear beneath the clouds, I reflected deeply on my own journey. Fourteen years ago, fresh out of my Master’s in Trade Policy and about to pursue my Bachelor of Laws, I launched my blog Caribbean Trade Law and Development. My goal was simple. It was to make otherwise esoteric trade issues accessible to everyday readers and to give me a platform through which I could, unfiltered by others, share my thoughts on burning trade issues. Did it give me visibility? Most definitely. Did it help my career as an academic? No, not really. Blog posts do not count toward promotions. Indeed, as I transitioned from the private sector into academia, I had to prioritize traditional academic publishing to “get ahead”, much to the neglect of my blog. Yet, Zambia reminded me that scholarship has a greater purpose when it is accessible. Only then can it move from being extractive to transformative.
I am grateful to OXFAM and to convenor, the Zambian economist, Prof. Grieve Chelwa, for creating this space of reflection, learning, and growth in Lusaka. This fellowship is already reshaping how I think about my role as a scholar, and I look forward with anticipation to what lies ahead.
Alicia D. Nicholls, B.Sc., M.Sc., LL.B. is an international trade specialist and the founder of the Caribbean Trade Law and Development Blog.
Image by Muhammad Syafrani from Pixabay
Caribbean Trade Law and Development 