Inquiry must not presume one’s own politics will be vindicated or ground the analysis.

Evidence

If there is a normative political position that underlies this book, it is to urge that we-my readers and myself-embark upon an inquiry in which we do not assume that the political positions we uphold will necessarily be vindi.. cated, or provide the ground for our theoretical analysis, but instead hold open the possibility that we may come to ask of politics a whole series of ques. tions that seemed settled when we fi embarked upon the inquiry. — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 275

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the strategic-essentialism and epistemic-frames critique in the Spivak/Ahmad cluster: the refusal to let one’s own political commitments pre-guarantee the analysis.