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Vol. 6 No. 1

The Formative Politics of Outreach Scholarship

Submitted
August 11, 2010
Published
2010-08-11

Abstract

In recent years, a movement aimed at renewing the civic mission of American higher education has emerged. What are the implications of this aim for the nature and practice of outreach scholarship? Grounded in an analysis of our contemporary civic crisis that emphasizes the importance of the formative
project of civic education, this paper calls for a view of outreach scholarship as “public scholarship.” Such a scholarship has deep historical roots in state and land-grant universities. Its renewal in our time will require outreach scholars to infuse public service and outreach work with a civic rather than a market spirit, explicitly incorporating deliberation on questions of civic purpose, while also providing opportunities for serious, substantial contributions and participation from a wide variety of people.