Tosin

Power, Legibility, and Justice: The Politics of Urban Life

In the shaping of urban systems, the state’s gaze has been central to how power is exercised. James C. Scott’s Seeing Like a State unpacks how legibility – the rendering of society and nature into simplified, administrative forms – has historically enabled states to pursue large-scale interventions with uneven consequences. Scott highlights four critical elements of what he terms negative social engineering…

How We Use Theory (And the Things We Don’t Say Out Loud)

What does it really mean when someone says a project is “theoretical”? As I advance in my knowledge of research, I often hear scholars say “make a theoretical contribution” in discussions, and rarely unpack what they mean. I recently read Abend’s The Meaning of Theory, and I found his breakdown of seven different meanings helpful, especially when thinking through how we use (and sometimes misuse) theory in our fields.

© 2025. Tosin Bamidele. All Rights Reserved.