Solidarity

Abstract

What if as researchers we do not share the same experiences or belong to the same structurally marginalized communities with whom we work, yet we recognize an urgent collective need to address health injustices? In this essay, I reflect on what it means for academic researchers to work in solidarity with communities. Drawing on my community-based research on opioid overdose and harm reduction, I think about solidarity as a form of pedagogy that does not rely on notions of similarity, but rather recognizes the incommensurability of differences as part of an interlinked struggle. This approach to building solidarity is grounded in social relationships, empathy, and reciprocity and calls for collective action. Reflecting on the importance of harm reduction and the relationships we develop with people who use drugs and bear the brunt of politically-induced suffering is not just an academic exercise, but a possibility for building life-sustaining solidarity. In the case of the ongoing overdose crisis that has devastated communities, finding new ways to reclaim and enact solidarity is critical if our goal is collective survival.