In defence of what’s there: notes on scavenging as methodology

Abstract

Presented as a series of notes, this article explores scavenging as a methodology of refusal, anchored in black studies, black feminist thought, queer studies and indigenous studies, and thinks of the possibilities it offers for rethinking feminist research. Engaging with the works of Katherine McKittrick and of Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang in particular, I unravel scavenging and interrogate the possibilities it offers for feminist, queer and decolonial scholarship. I argue that scavenging cultivates wonder; resists extractive logics pervasive in academic research; refuses disciplinarity; demands attention; offers possibilities for repair; channels feeling, desire and the erotic; and, finally, encourages us to think about form in academic writing. Throughout, scavenging is therefore sketched out as a methodology for worldmaking.