The growing attention paid to the relational spaces of collective action is good news. It owes a lot to the legacy of interactionism and allows us to more accurately grasp the relevant contexts of ...protest that cannot be subsumed solely under big contexts such as political opportunity structure, economy, and so on. One can however worry about the never-ending succession of paradigms - more often acronyms - in the subfield of social movement studies. 'Context' issues are in fact linked to the very status of explanation in social sciences, and to the unequal nomological (or conversely more historical) ambitions of social sciences - a debate that is far from being settled. This article insists on this underlying epistemological debate, before highlighting different aspects of what is at stake in the way relational contexts of collective action should be considered: relational understanding of strategies, the link between mobilizations and transformations in and between social spaces, and the role and types of differentiation of society. Here, the classical (but barely translated) work of Michel Dobry appears as particularly useful in order to better understand contexts, if we consider them at the same time through interactions and the differentiation of society. But far from pleading for a new magic bullet, the article intends to support a more historically contextualized approach of social movements that is less interested in the establishment of laws than the understanding of the consequences of specific forms of social differentiations. This understanding could ultimately lead to a good definition of what relevant context of collective action might be.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Bodies in Protest Johanna Simeant, Simeant; James Jasper, Jasper; Christophe Traini, Traini
2016, 20160613, 2016-06-13, Letnik:
9
eBook
Research on social movements has historically focused on the traditional weapons of the working class, especially labor strikes and street demonstrations-but everyday actions, such as eating or ...singing, which can also be turned into a means of protest, have yet to be fully explored. Originally published asLa grève de la faimby Johanna Siméant andLa musique en colèreby Christophe Traïni, Bodies in Protest is an interdisciplinary and comparative history of these modes of action that reveals how hunger strikes and music ranging from gospel songs to rock anthems can efficiently convey political messages and mobilize the masses. Common to both approaches, the chapters show, is a direct appeal to the emotions and a reliance on the physical, concrete language of the human body.
The sociology of transnational activism and of the Global Justice Movement have paid scarce attention to Southern transnationalisations. A good way of understanding the material and symbolic logics ...that underlie such processes is to study the way Southern activists participate in transnational events. Based on a collective ethnographic survey conducted at the World Social Forum (WSF) held in Nairobi in 2007, this article examines the practical modalities of access of African participants to the WSF, i.e. how they actually managed to travel to Nairobi, through what material help and to what extent they depend on the NGO sphere. It aims to show that the concept of career is a relevant lens to underline both activism and internationalisation as a process, which helps to avoid binary qualifications of internationalisation of Southern participants, reduced to being either simply part of the 'civil society' or 'unauthentic' because of their very internationalisation. It then examines how this internationalisation process reveals some affinities, albeit critical ones, with the former colonial sphere, but also how their engagement with the international sphere transforms their daily existence, through processual stages (as internationalisation is not always an effect of a cosmopolitan socialisation, but can also be encouraged by Northern partners' stance and orientation towards sending 'authentic' grassroots people to the North), and how the 'NGOisation' of social movements in the global South may in turn be understood as a specific form of political enterprise.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Social movements throughout the world have been central to history, politics, society, and culture. Observing Protest from a Place examines the impact of one such campaign, the global justice ...movement, as seen from the southern hemisphere. Drawing upon a collective survey from the 2011 World Social Forum in Dakar, the essays explore a number of vital issues, including the methodological problems of studying international activist gatherings and how scholars can overcome those challenges. By demonstrating the importance of the global justice movement and the role of nongovernmental organizations for participants in the southern hemisphere, this volume is an important addition to the literature on community action.
In Mali, the narrative of a civil division between the pro- and anticoup coalitions, although not entirely groundless, uncritically lumped together heterogeneous historical movements, dynamic ...political stances and involvements. More disturbingly, it promulgated the stereotypes of the modern and democratic Malian state versus regressive and/or conservative gullible masses. In fact, all political actors went through sets of tactical adjustments with different interests and motivations throughout the crisis and elections. To contribute to the understanding of those political positions and divisions, the paper explains those moves and readjustments and contextualizes them, insisting on the role of the street and of public and semi-public events. What does it mean to “take to the streets” in Mali since 1991? The literature focused on social and political consensus has paid little attention to the importance of contentious politics in Mali – a fact that led many to be surprised by the intense political mobilization around the coup and its aftermath. We draw here on original data from recent administrative archives and participant observation, and on an ethnography of public or semi-public events such as: the national convention in May 2012, the continuously postponed public debate requested by COPAM, and the Ministry of National Reconciliation and Development of the North.
This paper analyses the transformations of international intervention in Mali since the crisis that burst in March 2012. It shows that the crisis in Mali has generated interesting debates about ...international intervention in Mali and debates within the Bamako-based donor community in 2012 and 2013. Attempts at stopping doing “business as usual” were short-lived, but major changes in Mali's transnational government have occurred under the influence of “new” stakeholders (emergency NGOs, the military, UN blue helmets and civilian staff), agendas (the war on terror, “stabilization”, peace and state-building) and practices (for instance, the UN “cluster” approach). This has created a renewed competition and a negotiated division of labour between different categories of international actors. This entails that there be no “merging” between logics and practices of security and development (as argued by Mark Duffield, 2001). The presentation draws on empirical evidence accumulated through eight months of field-work, policy documents, non-participant observation and over 200 interviews carried out in Bamako since 2007.
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