Global Modernity and Social Contestation

O Seminário Internacional – Global Modernity and Social Contestation tem como objetivo central reunir destacados especialistas internacionais (provenientes da Índia, China, África do Sul, Zimbábue, Moçambique, Espanha, Alemanha, Estados Unidos, Bolívia, Argentina, além do Brasil) para discutir as interações entre a teoria crítica e as contestações sociais. Desenvolvidos habitualmente como campos de discussão bastante delimitados e paralelos, suas conexões são pontuais e problemáticas. No entanto, ao mesmo tempo em que presenciamos um período de crise global com profundas transformações sociais, ambos os campos vivem um momento de redefinição e o Seminário pretende discutir até que ponto uma maior interação entre eles pode enriquecer e permitir a construção de uma agenda de pesquisa comum, lançando um olhar bidirecional sobre como se podem reunir e renovar essas correntes, identificando proble­mas e gargalos, disjunções e impasses, bem como possíveis conciliações e soluções. Com isso em vista, a definição das mesas do seminário foi cuidadosamente pensada para instigar o debate, tendo em conta a origem dos convidados, o gênero, suas linhas de pesquisa e os eixos temáticos centrais para o diálogo.

O seminário é uma atividade do Núcleo de Estudos de Teoria Social e América Latina (NETSAL) do IESP-UERJ, grupo cadastrado no CNPQ e vinculado ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociologia desta instituição.  Ele espelha alguns dos temas centrais sobre os quais o núcleo vem se debruçando em suas pesquisas, discussões e publicações.

More info: http://modernityandcontestation.wordpress.com/

Programa

International Conference

9-10 February 2012

Bizkaia Aretoa UPV-EHU, Bilbao

You can find below a link to the conference website. In order to fill out the registration form you will need to use the following code: Bilbao. Mind that every participant (whether main author, co-author or auditor) needs to register for the conference and pay the corresponding fees.

http://www.amiando.com/XYMKXBT

Bilbao offers a wide range of lodging possibilities. A three-star hotel may cost between 50 and 70 euros, with breakfast (and sometimes wireless Internet connection) included. Some recommendable hotels are:

- Bilbao Jardines

- Barceló Hotel Nervión

- Petit Palace Arana Bilbao

- Best Western Bilbao Conde Duque

- Abando

- Ercilla and Hesperia Bilbao

There are, of course, more economical and expensive facilities. We have found the prices provided by the University’s Travel Agency to be higher than those available online. We thus advise participants to make their reservations individually, taking into consideration their possibilities and necessities.

The conference will take place at the Bizkaia Aretoa, a University building located on Avenida Abandoibarra 3, right by the Guggenheim Museum. Please, dial (+34) 94-601-8100 if you need help with directions. Below you can find a link to a Google map with the building’s location and available means of transportation.

http://g.co/maps/zkczr

See you in Bilbao!

Centre for Advanced Studies

National seminar on

Contested cities: voices of the margins

17-18th January 2012

Contemporary urban in India is ever changing. Rapid rate of urbanization, expansion of small and big cities, growing service industry attracting scores of migrants to cities, the government’s focus on the urban centres as ‘engines of growth’  overlap and influence shaping of  the contemporary urban scenario.

One set of debates relating to the urban is about spaces of flows and spaces of places defining the social processes of individuation and sociality. Qualifying and examining urban existence in terms of these seeming bipolarities is a challenging task. Does location in the global north and the global south essentially determine the position in this debate or is the picture much more complex with local political, cultural economic realities shaping the urban? What does contemporary phase of urbanization has in common with earlier phases or is today’s situation uniquely defined by a number of processes? How does it relate to socio-political and cultural changes other than what the rhetorical term globalization denotes?

A second set of debates is about the issues which trigger collective action. Ranging from contemporary meanings of ‘urban’ ness to access and availability of infrastructure, services and entitlements; and citizenship rights- there are formulations about various kinds of collective action. Along with erstwhile class based collective identities there are various forms of identity politics that leads to collective actions. Sometimes collective action is triggered by new policies or demands for new laws. Sometimes it is in the form of a response to existing regimes of values, norms and regulations.

A third set of debates is related to the form of political action. From union politics to platforms and fora emerging for certain causes; from campaigns to agitations; from institutionalized to non-institutional action the range is analytically very rich and varied. We observe creative redefinition of urban politics with new technologies initiating new sites of political action. For example, emergence of social networking sites as new political locations is worth scrutinising.

Another set of debates is about policy reforms. Though in case of India declaration of policies relating to various facets of the urban is welcome given the near total absence of it; what do infrastructural, housing and regulatory policies indicate? What can one say about the position of the state viz. a viz. the urban especially the urban poor? Is it that global agendas for the urban are being replicated in Indian policy documents?  What are various responses of the urban poor to government decisions, and policies?

Alongside there are discussions about various forms of identity leading to articulation of politics and counter-politics in the urban arena. Interestingly, new urban imaginaries and new cultural politics of identity is a phenomenon few have engaged with.

This national seminar would include papers on some or all these aspects including-

• Conceptual and Theoretical Issues

• Space, services and infrastructure

• Work, livelihoods and labour

• Movements and Collective action

• Hegemonic and counter-hegemonic urban cultural imaginaries

Submission of Abstracts and Papers

Well researched papers are invited to be presented in the seminar from academicians, activists, policy makers, politicians, planners, researchers and representatives of Government and non Governmental organizations.

         The delegates are requested to send the abstract of their papers on the main theme and sub themes of the seminar along with the duly filled registration form. Each abstract, not exceeding 300 words should reach the coordinator as soon as possible and latest by January 1st, 2012. The full length paper should be about 3000 to 5000 words. A hard copy and a soft copy of the paper in CD should also be submitted at the time of the seminar. We intend to publish the selected papers presented in the seminar in a special volume.

Travel and Accommodation

Boarding and lodging arrangements will be made for all the participants in the university campus. It may be difficult for us to meet travel expenses of all the participants. You are requested to get your TA/DA from your institution. But we will provide travel expenses to some resource persons and selected paper presenters, preferably by 3-tier A/C.

Organizing Committee

Dr. Shruti Tambe, Coordinator of the Seminar
Prof. Swati Shirwadkar, Head of the Department of Sociology
Sanjay Kolekar
Dr. Anurekha Chari

www.newculturalfrontiers.org

Submission paper deadline: 31st January 2012

Please send your proposal to issue editors:

Daniele di Nunzio – d.dinunzio@ires.it

Emanuele Toscano – emanuele.toscano@uniroma1.it

Challenges for Democracy and Universal Rights in the Global Market Era

In the past decades, deep economic and social transformations had a major impact on work, redefining its role at individual and collective level. There have been major changes that produced opportunities for workers but, at the same time, new challenges to the affirmation of their dignity and rights.

Work has no longer the same central dimension in the society as it used to have in the industrial era – not much because of its lesser importance in the construction of individuals’ identities – but, as expression of subjectivity, is now articulated by individuals in every dimension of their existence. Even if it’s no longer the primary vector of collective identities, work can certainly not be conceived as secondary for the life of the individual. Work maintains a well-defined role in the construction of individual biographies, both considering the positive aspects for self-determination and assertion of the existence of subjectivity then, on the other hand, considering the negative aspects on personality, such as corrosion of one’s temper.

The innovation of technologies and processes, the development of the Internet, the increasing access to education, reflected not only on products but on the ways in which they are produced. The gradual growth of used knowledge in work has opened up the possibilities for emancipation of individuals foreshadowing new paradigms in which knowledge is seen as essential, enhancing the creativity and skills of individuals.

Nevertheless, we are nowadays witnessing to the emergence of new modes of exploitation, due to the accentuation of specific forms of domination increasingly pervasive that, on one hand, refer to practices of domination and, on the other hand, go straight to the discipline resulted in the internalization of subordination.

These modes of exploitation are accompanied by a variation of the insecurity that goes beyond the single dimension of work, to be extended to the existential dimension.

In general terms, the logic of market and profit seems to impose itself on the chance to achieve individual and universal rights, leading to a crisis of democracy and representation that accompanies the economic one.

In opposition to these dynamics, different forms of reaction emerge. In some cases the individual isolation is transformed into an extreme individualism, aimed primarily at obtaining personal benefits. In other cases the need for protection involves the strengthening of professional corporatism, local and of other kinds.

Both instrumental individualism and communitarianism hinder the definition of a collective strategy for the affirmation of fundamental and universal rights, enabling the affirmation of each individual, through their work opportunities (careers).

On the other hand, forms of processing, strength and pursuit of alternatives to local and international emerge, aiming at affirming the dignity of labour and universal rights.

The third issue of New Cultural Frontiers aims at discuss these issues, accepting both theoretical or empirical, contributions encouraging a multidisciplinary approach to the debate.

Défis pour la Démocratie et les Droits Universels à l’Ère du Marché Global

Au cours des dernières décennies, des transformations économiques et sociales profondes ont eu un impact majeur sur le travail, en redéfinissant son du rôle au niveau individuel et collectif. Nos sociétés ont connues de majeurs transformations qui ont crées des possibilités pour les travailleurs, en même temps que des nouveaux défis pour l’affirmation de leur dignité et droits.

Le travail n’a plus la même dimension clé dans la société, telle qu’elle avait autrefois à l’ère industrielle – pas en raison de sa plus faible importance en ce qui concèrne la construction identitaire des individus – mais comme l’expression de la subjectivité, est désormais articulé par des individus dans toutes les dimensions de leur existence. Même si elle n’est plus le vecteur principal des identités collectives, le travail ne peut certainement pas être conçu comme secondaire pour la vie de l’individu. Le travail maintient un rôle bien défini dans la construction des biographies individuelles, en considérant à la fois les aspects positifs pour l’autodétermination et à l’affirmation de l’existence de la subjectivité puis, d’autre part, en considérant les aspects négatifs sur la personnalité, tels que la corrosion de son humeur.

L’innovation des technologies et des procédés, le développement de l’Internet, l’augmentation de l’accès à l’éducation, a un effet non seulement sur les produits mais sur les façons dont ils sont produits. La croissance progressive des connaissances utilisées au travail a ouvert des possibilités pour l’émancipation des individus préfigurant de nouveaux paradigmes dans lesquelles la connaissance est considérée comme essentielle, améliorant la créativité et les compétences des individus.

Néanmoins, nous témoignons aujourd’hui l’émergence de nouveaux modes d’exploitation, en raison de l’accentuation des formes spécifiques de domination de plus en plus omniprésente qui, d’une part, font allusion aux  pratiques de domination et, d’autre part, vont directement à la discipline entraîné dans l’internalisation de la subordination.

Ces modes d’exploitation sont accompagnés d’une variation de l’insécurité qui dépasse la dimension unique de travail, pour être étendue à la dimension existentielle.

De manière générale, la logique du marché et du profit semble s’imposer sur la chance de réaliser les droits individuels et universels, en conduisant à une crise de la démocratie et de la représentation qui accompagnent la crise l’économique.

En opposition à ces dynamiques, les différentes formes de réaction émergent. Dans certains cas, l’isolement individuel se transforme en un individualisme extrême, visant principalement à obtenir des avantages sociaux. Dans d’autres cas, le besoin de protection implique le renforcement du corporatisme professionnel, locale et d’autres sortes.

L’individualisme, aussi bien que le communautarisme entravent la définition d’une stratégie collective pour l’affirmation des droits fondamentaux et universels, permettant l’affirmation de chaque individu, à travers leurs possibilités d’emploi (carrières).

D’autre part, les formes de traitement, de la force et de la recherche d’alternatives au niveau local et international émergent, visant à affirmer la dignité du travail et les droits universels. Le troisième numéro de New Cultural Frontiers vise à discuter ces questions, acceptant à la fois les approches théoriques et empiriques et en encourageant les approches multidisciplinaires pour alimenter le débat.

Democracia y derechos universales en la era del mercado global

En las ultimas décadas las profundas transformaciones económicas y sociales han impactado fuertemente sobre el mundo laboral, redefiniendo el papel tanto de los individuos como de la colectividad. Han sido numerosos los cambios que han supuesto oportunidades para los trabajadores, pero al mismo tiempo éstos han comportado nuevos desafíos para la afirmación de la dignidad y de los derechos.

El trabajo ya no tiene la misma dimensión central en la sociedad como la que tenia en la época industrial, no tanto en virtud de su menor importancia en la construcción de la identidad individual, sino en cuanto expresión de la subjetividad de los individuos que se articula hoy en cada una de las dimensiones de su existencia. Aun sin ser el vector primario de las identidades colectivas, el trabajo no puede seguramente definirse un campo secundario para la vida de las personas.

El trabajo conserva un papel fundamental y bien definido en la construcción de las biografías individuales, sea considerando los aspectos positivos para la auto-determinación de la existencia y la afirmación de la propia subjetividad que considerando los aspectos negativos sobre la personalidad, como la corrosión del carácter.

La innovación de las tecnologías y de los procesos, el desarrollo de internet, el aumento de las oportunidades de acceso a la instrucción se reflejan, no solo en los bienes producidos, sino también en las modalidades con las cuales se producen. El crecimiento gradual de los conocimientos utilizados en el trabajo ha abierto posibilidades de emancipación de los individuos prefigurando nuevos paradigmas en los cuales el saber esta considerado un elemento fundamental, valorizando la creatividad y las habilidades de las personas.

Sin embargo, se asiste hoy al surgir de nuevas tipologías de explotación debidos al acentuarse de especificas formas de dominio cada vez mas generalizadas, que de una parte nos remiten a practicas de dominación directa y de otro lado van hasta el disciplinamiento provocado por la interiorización de la subordinación. Estas tipologías van asociadas a una declinación de la precariedad che va mas allá de la dimensión laboral y que termina por declinarse frecuentemente en términos existenciales.

En general, la lógica del mercado y de los beneficios parece imponerse sobre la realización individual y sobre los derechos universales, lo que conduce a formas de crisis de la democracia y de la representación que acompañan a la crisis económica.

En oposición a estas dinámicas emergen diversas formas de reacción. En algunos casos el aislamiento individual se transforma en un individualismo exasperado, finalizado principalmente a obtener beneficios personales. En otros casos la necesidad de protección conlleva el fortalecimiento de corporativismos profesionales, territoriales o de otro tipo.

Sea el individualismo instrumental que el comunitarismo obstaculizan la definición de una estrategia colectiva de afirmación de los derechos fundamentales y universales, capaces de consentir la afirmación de cada individuo a través de la propia experiencia laboral.

Por otro lado, surgen formas de elaboración, resistencia y búsqueda de alternativas a nivel local e internacional, dirigidas a la afirmación de la dignidad del trabajo y de los derechos universales.

El tercer numero de New Cultural Frontiers invita a discutir de estos temas, acogiendo contribuciones de tipo teórico o empírico y en un óptica de estimulo del debate en un enfoque multidisciplinar.

Radical Youth, between ideology, expressivity and violence:

Comparisons around the Russian experience

International Workshop

20 – 21  October 2011, EHESS, Paris

Research project “Understanding Violence in Russia: War, Institutions, Society” with the support of the City of Paris “Emergence(s) program

Organizers

Centre for the Study of the Russian, Caucasian and Central European Areas (CERCEC-EHESS/CNRS)

Centre for Sociological Analysis and Intervention (CADIS-EHESS/CNRS)

International Sociological Association – Research Committee 47

French Sociological Association – Research Committee 21 Social Movements

Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme

Skin-heads, hooligans, extremists, are the labels usually used by the media to name radical youth not only in Russia, but also in European countries, were a radicalization of the youth, and especially the rise of extreme-right movements has been observed for several years. In Russia, the “Manezh square” demonstration of “football fans” and extreme right in front of the Kremlin in December 2011 has shed light on the capacities of mobilization, but also on the different dimensions of these movements. Together with violence against minorities and nationalist slogans, there is  an increasing hostile behavior against State authorities. But among radical youth are also all movements that were born in reaction or protestation against the ultra-rights, and movements shaped by a specific sub culture and individual identity search.

Mainly based on field research undertaken on the Russian field, and interplaying the Russian experience with cases and researches from other several European countries such as France, United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium and Poland, the international workshop “Youth, between ideology, expressivity and violence” will gather leading and young specialists of the radical youth.

We hope to be able to draw some lines of comparison ( between radical expressions all over Europe including Russia. In the Russian case, the rise of Russian contemporary ultra-nationalist movement will be analysed in its social and political context and in its expression such as the riots in Kondopoga in September 2006 and Manezh Square Demonstration. But we understand youth radicality and radical movements in a broader sense, which encompasses ideology, as well as cultural and artistic expressions and a violent behaviour.

We are particularly interested in the combination of a subjective dimension (the experience of a “radical” individual) with a global dimension (the experience of such movements in several countries, the resort to physical violence, the link between age and political and social attitudes).

The participants will present research on various types of youth radicality and radical movements, whether it refers to  “right” or “left” ideologies (radical nationalists, anti-racists or anarchists). The choice of a broad spectrum of movements will help to draw the lines on how to describe “radicality” and “radical movements”.

In this context, the reflection on the role and place of violence (symbolic, physical, use of weapons, etc.) in their practices and ideology will take a large place in our workshop.

The participants will also address the status of empirical research and in such a sensitive context.

The workshop will give the opportunity to analyse the attitudes of youth radical movements to politics and to State authorities, as well as the State reactions to their activities. How these movements do position themselves in relation to their society and how society perceives them? The discussion will stimulate reflection and experiences common to Russia and Europe, by highlighting common features and characteristics of institutional, political and cultural trajectories.

The workshop will be organized around three panels :

Panel I : Theories, ideologies and typology of youth radicality and radical mouvements

Panel II : The role and place of violence in the youth radical movements

Panel III : Studying empirically the youth radicality and radical movements. Fields and researcher’s experience

Venue : EHESS, 190-198 avenue de France 75013 Paris (M Quai de la Gare or Bibliothèque)

• 20 October, 13.00-19.00 : room 640 6th floor
• 21 October, 9.00-13.00room A, Ground floor

Participants:

Philippe Bataille, directeur du CADIS/EHESS, France

Anne Le Huérou, FMSH, CERCEC, France

Amandine Regamey, University Paris I, CERCEC, France

Antimo Luigi Farro, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, CADIS, ISA Research Committee 47, President, Italy

Geoffrey Pleyers, Louvain University, CADIS, AFS RT 21, ISA RC 47, Belgique

Lukasz Jurczyszyn, Pultusk Academy of Humanities, CADIS, ISA RC 47, Poland

Alexander Verhovsky, Centre for Information and Analysis “SOVA”, Moscow, Russia

Mischa Gabowitsch, research fellow at Einstein Forum

Alexander Bikbov, Moscow University, Centre Maurice Halbwachs (Paris), Russia

Hilary Pilkington, Warwick University, United Kingdom

Emanuele Toscano, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, CADIS, ISA RC47, Italy

Daniele Di Nunzio, Institute for the Economic and Social Research (IRES), Rome, Italy

Manuel Boucher, Laboratory for the Study and Social Researches, Rouen, CADIS, France,

Elena Omelchenko, director of the Centre for youth studies of the Higher School of Economics in St.Petersburg, Russia

Vera Nikolski, Paris 1/CESS, France

Michel Wieviorka, administrator FMSH, CADIS

Contacts :Anne le Huérou: anne.lehuerou@free.fr, Lukasz Jurczyszyn: jurluk@ehess.fr, Geoffrey Pleyers: Geoffrey.Pleyers@uclouvain.be

Programme

I Part of the Workshops

Thursday (salle  640, EHESS, 190-198 avenue de France)

13.00 Welcome

Anne Le Huérou, FMSH, CERCEC, Philippe Bataille, directeur du CADIS/EHESS, Lukasz Jurczyszyn Pultusk Academy of Humanities, CADIS

Introduction

Antimo Luigi Farro, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, CADIS, ISA Research Committee 47, President

13.30-16.00 I Panel Session: Theories, ideologies and typology of youth radicality and radical mouvements 

Panelists:

Race and ethnicity, nationalism and extremism: some comparative historical observations, Mischa Gabowitsch  (research fellow at Einstein Forum)

The place of the ultra-nationalists in the Russian society: up to and after the Manezh Square, Alexander Verhovsky (Centre for Information and Analysis “SOVA”, Moscow)

Rethinking ‘subcultural’ lives: Journeys through skinhead, Hilary Pilkington (Warwick University) and Elena Omelchenko (director of the Centre for youth studies of the Higher School of Economics in St.Petersburg)

Discussant: Michel Wieviorka, administrator FMSH, CADIS  (to cofirm)

16.00-16.30 Coffee/Tea break

16.30-18.00 II Panel Session: The role and place of violence in the youth radical movements

Presenters:

The meaning of violence in the youth radical movements. Study cases in France, Russia and Poland, Lukasz Jurczyszyn (Pultusk Academy of Humanities, CADIS)

Violence under the circumstances: a biographical construction of Russian youth militantism, Alexander Bikbov  (Moscow University, Centre Maurice Halbwachs – Paris)

 Discussant: Mischa Gabowitsch (research fellow at Einstein Forum)

18.00-18.30 A summary of the first part of Workshops in relation to the theories of social movements, Geoffrey Pleyers (Louvain University, CADIS, RT 21 AFS)

II Part of the Workshops

Friday (Salle A, Ground floor, EHESS, 190-198 avenue de France)

09.00-10.30 III Panel Session: Studying empirically the youth radicality and radical movements. Fields and researcher’s experience 

Panelists:

Les rapports police/jeunes au sein des quartiers impopulaires : analyse d’un processus de “radicalisation réciproque”, Manuel Boucher (Laboratory for the Study and Social Researches, Rouen)

L’escapisme en politique: le cas des militants du NBP et de l’ESM Vera Nikolski (Paris 1 / CESSP)

„Taking everything back“. A sociological reading of CasaPound, a far right movement in Italy, Emanuele Toscano, La Sapienza, University of Rome and Daniele Di Nunzio, Institute for the Economic and Social Research (IRES)

Discussant: Anne le Huérou, CERCEC

10.30-11.00  Coffee/Tea break

11.00-12.30 To film the Russian field. Projection  of two films on Russian radical youth in order to discuss with the authors some reflections about the methodological and ethical issues.  

1. “Vorkuta: A research film”, Directed by Elena Omel’chenko, edited by Dmitrii Omel’chenko, Vorkuta 2007. Elena Elena Omelchenko, director of the Centre for youth studies of the Higher School of Economics in St.Petersburg and  Hilary Pilkington Warwick University.

2. “Ce que voit Minine”, directed  by Lukasz Jurczyszyn and Marcin Grabowski, Nijni-Novgorod 2010. Lukasz Jurczyszyn, Pultusk Academy of Humanities, CADIS.

12.30-13.00 General Conclusions

A networking workshop for social movement researchers

28‐29 September 2011

Campus Haga, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Gothenburg Centre of Globalization and Development (GCGD) and CSM

 (download the program in .pdf)

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Room “Husaren” (Campus Haga) and “House of Win‐Win” (Tredje Långgatan 13B)

12:00 Registration

13:00 Welcome — Christoph Haug, University of Gothenburg

13:15 Introduction of the workshop theme — Håkan Thörn, University of Gothenburg

13:30 Keynote lecture and discussion
“Alter‐Globalization and global movements: A Tourainian perspective” — Geoffrey Pleyers, University of Louvain

14:30 Coffee/tea break

15:00 Getting to know each other

18:00 Mingle at House of Win‐Win, Tredje Långgatan 13B

19:30 Dinner (also at Win‐Win)

Thursday, 29 September 2011

Stora Skansen (B336), Lilla Skansen (B340), Bastionen (B333) for the parallel sessions, and D205/206 for Lunch and the final plenary.

09:00 Parallel presentation sessions (see separate schedule for details)

10:45 Coffee/tea break

11:15 Parallel presentation sessions (see separate schedule for details)

13:00 Lunch

14:30 Keynote lecture and discussion
“How to study transnational social movements: A pluralist methodological perspective” — Donatella della Porta, European University Institute, Florence

15:30 Coffee/tea break

16:00 Reflections and concluding discussion — Chair: Åsa Wettergren, University of Gothenburg

17:00 End of workshop

NUI Maynooth, Aberdeen – Scotland

26^th November 2011

deadline 1^st October 2011

conference themes and details at http://sociology.nuim.ie or from theresa.okeefe@nuim.ie Centre for Politics, Power and Society, Dept. of Sociology, NUIM & “Critical Political Thought, Activism and Alternative Futures” research cluster

THEMES

We invite papers addressing one or more of the areas below, but we are also open to other research agendas which you feel deserve more attention. The conference is open to participants from any academic discipline as well as to researchers working within social movements, and welcomes papers relating to movements outside or beyond Ireland as well as those engaging with the Irish situation.

1) Politics, theory and method

What are the purposes of social movement research? How do theories and methods interact? What relationships (should) exist between researchers and movements?  What kinds of knowledge do social movements produce? What theories are generated and used by movement activists? Does movement research have anything useful to say to movements?

2) What are “social movements” anyway?

How can we understand “movement” not just as a type of semi-formal organising, but in ways that allow “social movements” to include micro-level resistance at one end or indeed revolution at the other? How do we relate understandings of social movements in the 19th or early 20th century as trying to create or transform states and institutions to contemporary assumptions about movements as accepting given structures? How can we say something useful about where the
boundaries of one movement end and another begin? How do societies change through collective action, and how can we know?

3) Critical cultural analysis

How do past struggles and inherited traditions shape social movements today? How can we integrate discourse, language and culture into the analysis of social movements? How are movements and their discourses gendered, classed and racialised? What is the importance of emotion and affect; trauma, stress and sustainability in shaping movement dynamics and outcomes? And how can social movement research transform cultural and literary studies which often ask these questions without
asking after the practicalities of organising, strategy and struggle?

4) Understanding social movements in Ireland

Do Irish movements really operate in a context like the US and UK, or should we be looking to movements in Mediterranean societies or Latin America for comparisons and concepts? What kind of “movement society” is Ireland in international comparison – peripheral, post-colonial, conservative? How does the role of (nationalist, Catholic, farmers’, labour) movements in creating the state enable and constrain contemporary movements? What does the Irish case tell us about movements more broadly and how can it help us understand movements elsewhere?

5) Social movements in the 2010s

How has the crisis shaped social movements – themes, actors, relationships between movements, with parties and the state? Will models of social partnership and mainstreaming survive austerity and coercion? What ‘new’ forms of mobilisation are evident – new technologies, new tactics, and new kinds of relationships between movement actors? How are global movements changing (e.g. transnational anti-capitalism; the Arab Spring; anti-austerity mobilisations; diasporic social movements)? Why has the movement response to the crisis in Ireland been so muted?

ABSTRACTS AND PAPERS

We invite abstracts (up to 250 words) on any of the themes above or addressing other themes in social movement studies which you feel deserve greater research. Abstracts should include a title, your email address and institutional affiliation if any (independent scholars and movement practitioners are welcome to submit). Please send abstracts to Theresa O’Keefe by October 1st 2011.

Papers (up to 10,000 words including bibliography) should be submitted by November 14th 2011. Papers which are submitted by the deadline will be included in a CD-ROM for all conference participants, as an immediate “state of the art” collection of who is doing what in Irish social movement studies. (This does not, of course, prevent you using reworked versions of the paper as the basis for articles, book chapters etc.)

Papers which are submitted in time will also be considered for inclusion in an edited volume with an academic publisher.

CONFERENCE INFORMATION

Detailed information will be made available in due course, but this will be a one-day (Saturday) conference at NUI Maynooth. The event is being organised on behalf of the Critical Political Thought, Activism and Alternative Futures research cluster at NUI Maynooth with an organising committee of Dr Theresa O’Keefe and Dr Laurence Cox (Dept.of Sociology, National University of Ireland Maynooth) and Dr Cristina Flesher Fominaya (Dept. of Sociology, University of Aberdeen).

Jeffrey Broadbent, Vicky Brockman  (eds.)

ISBN 9780387096254

Hardback €124.75

Springer 2011

In the study of civil society and social movements,  most cases are based in Western Europe and North America.  These two areas of the world have similar histories and political ideals and structures in common which in turn, affect the structure of its civil society.  In studying civil society in Asia, a different understanding of history, politics, and society is needed.  The region’s long traditions of centralized, authoritarian states buttressed by Confucian and in some cases Communist ideologies may render this concept irrelevant. The chapters in this international volume cover most of the areas and countries traditionally defined as belonging to East Asia: Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and China.  The case studies included in this volume confront the utility of using the Western concept of civil society, represented in its most active form – social movements – to think about East Asia popular politics. Along with providing an array of important case studies of social movements in East Asia, the introduction, chapters and conclusion in the book take up three major theoretical questions: the effect of the East Asian cultural, social and institutional context upon the mobilization, activities and outcomes of social movements in that region the role of social movements in larger transformative processes  utility of Western social movement concepts in explaining social movements in East Asia. This book will be of interest to two major groups of readers, those who study East Asia and those who pursue social movements and civil society, as well as politics more generally.

Download the table of contents

Please also note that if any journal would like to review this book, please contact Teresa Krauss at Springer and she will send you a review copy.

On the ISA FORUM website you can find all information you need to present a paper, as well as and the deadlines.

GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTERS

Main theme

Subjective affirmation, social movement changes and construction of democracy

Programme coordinators

• Antimo Luigi FARRO, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, Antimoluigi.farro@uniroma1.it
• Maria da Gloria GOHN, Universidad Estatal de Campinas, Brazil, mgohn@uol.com.br

Programme committee members:

• Breno BRIGEL, UNICAMP, São Paulo, Brazil
• Marie Christine DORAN, Ottawa University, Canada
• Denize GUNCE, Cadis-Ehess, Paris, France
• Lukaz JURCZYSZYN, Aleksander Gieysztor Academy of Humanities, Poland
• Yvon LE BOT, Cadis-Ehess, Paris, France
• Kevin MCDONALD, Australia
• Dai NOMIDIA, Sophia University, Japan
• Geoffrey PLEYERS, University of Louvain, Belgium
• Emanuele TOSCANO, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Number of allocated sessions including Business meeting: 14.

Deadlines

• On-line abstract submission will be open from August 25 to December 15, 2011.

Call for papers – Proposed sessions

in provisional order. Only abstracts submitted through ISA website platform will be considered.

Session A – Latin American social movements and social justice in the Global South

Session in English and Spanish

Chair
Maria da Glória GOHN, UNICAMP, Brazil, mgohn@uol.com.br
Breno BRINGEL, University Complutense of Madrid, Spain, brenobringel@hotmail.com

The aim of this session is to discuss some central issues of contemporary Latin American social movements, with a focus on the relationship between social movement practices and the reconfiguration of regional scenario. The panel also seeks to explore transnational activism and social and cultural articulations that connect Latin America with process of transformation and social justice in the Global South.

Session B – Authors meets actors: Dialogues between academia and Latin American social movements

Session in English and Spanish

Chair
Maria da Glória GOHN, UNICAMP, Brazil, mgohn@uol.com.br
Breno BRINGEL, University Complutense of Madrid, Spain, brenobringel@hotmail.com

The latest congresses of the International Sociological Association have included sessions with an interesting format: “Author meets their critics”. This panel proposes another kind of dialogue with the format “Authors meets actors”. The main reason for this dialogue lies in the importance of an epistemological discussion on how the production of knowledge on social movements and from social movements interacts. What are the tensions and feedbacks between the more academic debate on the movement and the internal process of generating knowledge? What are the differences and similarities between the research topics of interest in the academy and the main issues that encourage activists in their own research and self-reflection? How to interpret the process of both production and reproduction of knowledge about/with/from social movements in a context of increasing transnational activist spaces of formation and education? The panel seeks to explore this and other related questions through social movement researcher and activists from Argentina and potentially from elsewhere in the world, with a special focus on Latin America.

Session C – ¿Repolitización de las movilizaciones sociales en América Latina?

Session in Spanish

Chair
Manuel Antonio GARRETON MERINO, Universidad de Chile, magarret@uchile.cl

En América Latina parece llegar a su fin la era post transiciones de despolitizacion y de movilizaciones de la sociedad civil del tipo “que se vayan todos” o solamente parciales.Las movilizaciones y movimientos sociales parecían ecpresarse en demandas sectoriales y en dictanciamiento de la política oficial, En los diversos países en los últimos años se constituyen movimientos sociales que re-plantean la cuestiòn polìtica de la transformaciòn de la sociedad y desafìan el sistema político tras las demandas sectoriales y ciuddadanas. La mesa busca examinar los casos de nuevas movlizaciones sociales y desentrañar si hay un nuevo sentido transformacional de ellas o si solo expresan las distancias entre política y sociedad. Se examinarán casos nacionales y también una panorámica a nivel de la región.

Session D – When, where, and how do movements matter? Consequences of social movements

Session in English and Spanish

Organizers and chairs
Larry ISAAC, Vanderbilt University, USA, larry.isaac@vanderbilt.edu
Holly MCCAMMON, Vanderbilt University, USA, holly.j.mccammon@vanderbilt.edu

How do social movements matter? What sort of changes and consequences do movements produce, how do they produce these outcomes, and under what conditions are movement-induced changes most likely to occur? While still representing a disproportionately small fraction of social movement studies, research on the outcomes of movements has increased over the past decade. However, we have only just begun to unravel the social movement-social change equation. This session is open to research on social movement consequences (political, including social justice and democratization, economic, cultural, and life-course/biographical) in a variety of different world contexts. We welcome analyses on the collective means of bringing about social change and on different types of change, including magnitude, direction, duration, mediating conditions central to the social movement—social change relationship. We also encourage papers that address the conceptual and methodological challenges one faces when analyzing dynamic social change process and the theoretical implications of the movement—change nexus.

Session E – Forms of social justice: Localism and globalism in Asian context

Session in English

Organizer and chair
Daishiro NOMIYA, Sophia University, Japan, d-nomiya@sophia.ac.jp

Forms and practice that seek social justice vary. Global justice movement – anti/alter globalization movement triggered off by the neoliberal practice by the transnational institutions – is among the most popular categories of resistance in recent social movement history. However, alter/anti-globalization movement does not appear to be scattered evenly around the globe. National traits, socio-cultural characteristics, and tradition of resistance that dictate the form of resistance differ in from one country to another and from regions to regions. Popular demand for social justice takes diverse forms, depending on ever changing balance of localism and globalism on which resistance action takes place. Asia is no different. A global wave to call for anti/alter globalization movement has arrived in some Asian countries, but its actual enactment is done within the confinement of the local. For example, a mixed use of traditions and new innovative measures began to be employed in the pursuit of workers’ rights and human rights. Resistance started to emerge where little turbulence existed before. Action takes on a newly intensified cultural battlefield. A broader aim of this section is to enrich a comparative perspective in social movement studies, offering insights from Asian practice alongside those from Latin American practice that will be explored in other sections in this RC47. In this section, we seek to capture a modern development of social justice movement in Asia, by highlighting a new orientation in the forms and claims of action as well as the sources of the social injustice.

Session F – Conflicts, social movements and democracy in the global era

Session in English, French and Spanish

Organizers
Fernando CALDERON, Fundación UNIR, Bolivia, naniascalderon@gmail.com
Marie-Christine DORAN, University of Ottawa, Canada, Marie-Christine.Doran@uottawa.ca
Yvon LE BOT, CADIS-EHESS, Paris, France, ylb@ehess.fr

This “Conflicts, social movements and democracy in the global era” panel is based on an ongoing collective research focusing on Latin-American social conflicts and their relations with democratization processes and globalization. Its main goal is to seize the opportunity opened by AIS’ Buenos Aires Forum 2012 in order to compare and confront Latin-American experiences in this field with perspectives emerging from other regions of the world. During the last decade, and more specifically in the context of the crisis irrupting in 2008, new social mobilisations of great magnitude have been multiplying in Europe, North America and throughout the Arabic-Muslim world. These mobilizations may be characterized by their great difficulty to impose the new political culture they bear on political systems and institutional channels alike. In Latin America, social mobilizations present, in their articulations to democratization processes, a greatly diversified array of exits, semi-exits and failures…The phenomenon cannot be analysed in the sole perspective of national societies, without situating it in its relations to global flux (finances, migrations, underground economies and drug trafficking, new information and communication technologies, cultural and religious productions). The goal of this panel is to take a distance from a certain “methodological nationalism” as well as “regional” one, by placing fieldwork research and discussions in the course of a reflection about the capacity of being actors, the orientations and significations of current conflicts, as well as on the prospects for democracy in the globalization context.

Session G – Radical movements examine a political and social order

Session in English, Spanish and French

Organizers
Lukasz JURCZYSZYN, CADIS-EHESS, Paris, France, jurluk@ehess.fr
Emanuele TOSCANO, University of Rome, Italy, emanuele.toscano@uniroma1.it

One of the main goals of the session on radical movements would be to interrogate on the sense of engagement and functioning of diverse radical movements in the contemporary world. We would welcome the authors of the papers on radical movements, understood in a very large sense – socio-political, cultural/artistic activity and expression, including the use of Internet – according to such kind of movements as: extreme right/left, anti-racist (or antifascist) and anarchist movements and recent Arab democratization protestations, etc. To enlarge our reflection on the racial contemporary movements the researchers from all parts of the world are encouraged to present their papers. In each case we would like to ask the authors to present the reaction and the position of the contemporary State and its society to the activity of the radical movement on its territory. In which way the radical movements represent the danger for the democratic society ? And on the other side, in which way their examine its defects (such as the social injustices and inequalities) and also its transformation? One of the main theme of this session will be to debate on the role and place of violence (symbolic/physical violence, using of arms, etc.) in the ideology and practice of such social movements that could be defined as radical.

Session H – Anti-nuclear movements after Fukushima disaster

Session in English

Organizers
Shujiro YAZAWA, Seijo Women`s College, Japan, syazawa@seijo.ac.jp
Seung-Kuk KIM, Pusan National University, Japan, skkim21@chol.com

After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the anti-nuclear power movements have been successful. In the 2000`s, however, pro-nuclear power voices came back with the increasing energy crisis. Then, the 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents recharged anti-nuclear movements worldwide, opposing the nuclear power industry`s renaissance. This session is designed to collect presentations on anti-nuclear concerns about nuclear weapons as well as nuclear power. The following topics are to be included in this session: anti-nuclear power conflicts; anti-nuclear weapons movements; peace/anti-war movements; governmental policies on nuclear power; alternative energy movements

Session I – Social movement 2.0

Session in English and Spanish

Organizer
Kevin MCDONALD, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, mcdonald.k@gmail.com

Recent years have seen a clear shift in modes of organizing and acting in contemporary movements, with a focus on on-line blogging platforms, Facebook and Twitter. These do not involve a retreat into the ‘virtual’, but are closely associated with forms of sensual politics, from the occupation of spaces to other forms of embodied experience and dispositions. The paradigm of organization, member and identity appears to be giving way to a new mode of constituting collective experience, where digital technologies intersect with new practices of embodied presence. This panel explores the extent we are witnessing the emergence of new types of movements associated with new forms of public sphere, and will focus in particular on methodological issues linked to how to research such forms of action and movement.

Session J – Civil society against violence

Session in English and Spanish

Organizers
Jeff GOODWIN, New York University, USA, jgoodwin.nyu@gmail.com
Geoffrey PLEYERS, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, Geoffrey.Pleyers@uclouvain.be

This panel will focus on the struggles of social movements and civil-society actors more generally against the violence generated by authoritarian states, civil wars, and drug trafficking. How do social actors and civil society attempt to stop violence? In what contexts and to what extent have their efforts been successful? Some mobilizations against state violence have played a key role in the collapse of dictatorial regimes, notably in Argentina. In other cases, when violence does not leave much space for mass mobilizations, cultural, expressive and artistic forms of resistance have nevertheless been emerging. The panel welcomes contributions drawing on case studies in Latin America and other regions.

Session K – Bridging sociologies. Globalisation, cosmopolitanism and the individual

Session in English and Spanish

Organizer
Henri LUSTIGER-THALER, Ramapo College, USA, h.lustigerthaler@gmail.com

This panel explores a tripartite process of change, captured in the decline of the nation state, galloping internal and external globalisation, and the rise of individualism as seen through the quest for personal and human rights. Questions abound at the intersection of this triple movement: in French sociology the concept of the Subject and its relationship to socialization and collective action comes to the fore; in the Anglo-Germanic literature, the new cosmopolitanism suggests a break from guiding sociological precepts of the nation-state and idea of society itself. Globalization in its many hybrid forms recasts the realm of private autonomy and self-creation in the face of the forces of systemic socialization: hence a needed elaboration of the Subject and the Cosmopolite. Two eminent scholars will be invited to address each of the concepts, their similarities and dissimilarities. An eminent critical discussant will do an assessment of the contributions.

Session L – Business Meeting

Organizer and chair
Antimo L. FARRO, University of Rome, Italy, antimoluigi.farro@uniroma1.it

JOINT SESSIONS

RC21RC47
Urban Movements in the New Metropolitan Context

Languages of the session: English, French, Spanish

Organisers:
Pierre HAMEL – pierre.hamel@umontreal.ca
Fernando DIAZ – Fernando.diaz@unirioja.es

It seems that the diversity of urban movements has increased a great deal over the last thirty years. This could be explained among other things by the expansion and fragmentation of urban landscape in reference to the emergence of ‘new metropolises’. To what extent are urban movements able to challenge and/or adjust their actions to these urban forms?  For example, do their interventions are increasingly articulated to multi-scalar politics that are accompanying metropolitan governance? In that respect, to what extent one can say that their current mobilizations are moving beyond the localism that have often characterized their engagement in the past, as this was often criticized for limiting their political impact? Is it possible to relate urban mobilizations to issues of social justice and democratization? Do urban movements create innovative forms of internal organization? This panel will explore the new forms of social mobilization that urban movements are defining in different social, cultural, economic and political contexts. The particular conditions created by the global economic reorganization will be especially considered.

RC24RC47
Climate justice, “buen vivir” and voluntary simplicity: new lifestyles and political commitments

Languages of the session: English, French, Spanish

Organisers and Chair:
Geoffrey Pleyers (FNRS-UC Louvain & Cadis-EHESS) – Geoffrey.Pleyers@uclouvain.be
Stewart Lockie ( Australian National University) – Stewart.Lockie@anu.edu.au

Across the world, social actors are showing growing concern about global warming and environmental devastations. While international institutions seem unable to cope with these challenges, grass-roots actors and activists’ networks are mobilizing support for a global agreement aiming at environmental protection and are developing alternative practices and visions of the world. The concept of « buen vivir » illustrates the notable contribution of Latin American indigenous communities to the debate. In Europe and North America, citizens have appropriated alternative lifestyles, consuming less natural resources. This panel will focus on citizens’ initiatives and social movements envisioning to deal with environmental issues both by developing alternative lifestyles and promoting active participation in public debates.

RC47RC48
New trends and theoretical approach in the field of social mobilizations and social change

Joint session of RC47 Social Classes and Social Movements and RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change [host committee]

Organizers and chairs
Antimo L. FARRO, University of La Sapienza, Rome, Italy, antimoluigi.farro@uniroma1.it, RC48
Benjamín TEJERINA, University of the Basque Country, Spain, cjptemob@lg.ehu.es, RC48

The aim of this session is to reflect about specific case-studies that have been analysed through theoretical frameworks that try to go beyond current theories usually applied in the field of collective action and social movements. In special, we are looking for works that (a) combine different theoretical perspectives in an original way, (b) compare different researches and offer new interpretations of highly studied phenomena and (c) analyse new forms of mobilization that question the current frameworks. We are not looking for a bibliographical discussion of basic theories to spot their insufficiencies. Our objective is to look for new theoretical interpretations supported by a solid and structured analysis of empirical available –and specifically compiled- evidences.

ISA RC48 – Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change

FROM SOCIAL TO POLITICS. NEW FORMS OF MOBILIZATION AND DEMOCRATIZATION

University of Bilbao – Spain

^9th – 10^th February 2012

Please send your call for papers (deadline 30^th November 2011) proposal to Conference Organisers:

Antimo Luigi Farro – antimoluigi.farro@uniroma1.it

Benjamin Tejerina – b.tejerina@ehu.es

OBJETIVES AND THEME

In the recent evolution of contemporary social movements three phases can be identified.

The first phase is marked both by the labour movement and the systemic importance attributed to the labour conflict in industrial society. A conflict interpreted by Emile Durkheim as a shortcoming of social integration, by Max Weber as a rational conflict by entrepreneurs and workers interests, and a central class struggle for society transformation by the view of Karl Marx.

The second phase of development of social movements takes on new social movements of the sixties and seventies of the XX century, such as students, women and environmentalists movements of post-industrial society. Actions whose sense and meaning are explained mainly by two new analytical perspectives: resource mobilization theory (McAdam and Tilly) that focuses on the study of rational attitudes of these actions and conflicts; and actionalist sociology, which aims to identify new central actors of the conflicts in the post-industrial society, as labour movement was in industrial society.

The third phase emerges in a world framed by the ascendancy of market, the prominent role of financial capital flows, communitarian closure and fundamentalism, and refers to movements of affirmation of human rights and democracy as alternatives to global domination and systemic conditioning of individual and groups.

The objective of this conference is to foster theoretical reflections and to present empirical evidences regarding some of the recent mobilizations that took place in the Mediterranean area and that have two very clearly distinguished threads. On the one hand, there are the mobilizations that reveal the need to open space to democracy by asking for political reforms and democratization processes in countries such as Tunez, Egypt, Morocco, Libya and Syria, among other. On the other hand, numerous discontent displays regarding the political management of economical crisis and the shrinking of the Welfare State in South Europe triggered mobilizations such as 15-M in Spain, “Indignez-vous” in France, Italy and Greece and other protests organized by young people and students in England and Belgium.

Bringing together different networks and orientations around social movements, expressed by the two ISA Research Committees 47 and 48, this conference offers the opportunity to debate around the changes and the meanings of social movements of the twenty-first century. In special, we are interested in analysing the antecedents, the influence of social and political conditions, the movement’s nature regarding organization, forms of protest, claims, causes, protagonists, role of social media and to spot the meaning of these relatively new forms of protest beyond the action repertoire.

ORGANIZATION

The general structure of the Conference has provided different ways for participation. One of them is the organization of academic sessions. Each thematic session will consist of the presentation of a guest lecturer for 20 minutes, four oral communications for 15 minutes each, and five communications presented in poster format.

The final constitution of these thematic sessions will be a posteriori, when all communications are received and the Scientific Committee has made the selection of oral communications and posters. All communications will have the same status for the issuance of participation certificates. A prerequisite for presenting a communication is to be properly enrolled in the Conference. Regarding a possible publication –still in consideration- of the full papers participants must adapt the texts to a model that will be sent later.

SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

The abstracts of communications should be sent to the organization of the Congress based on the following criteria:

• Length: Maximum 1000 words. It is considered that a minimum of 700 words is required to provide enough information to evaluate the proposal.

• Languages: Communications must be submitted only in English.

• Contents: All abstracts must have the following information:

a) Communication information.

- Title.

b) Author’s information.

- Surname, first name.

- Email address.

- Affiliation.

c) Work content.

- Kind of work: describe briefly if it is a theoretical reflection, an qualitative/quantitative empirical research, a case study or a comparative analysis;

-  3 key words;

- Description of the object and/or main subject of the work;

- Methodology;

- Main findings, conclusions and/or contributions;

- References; bibliography.

d) Other elements which are considered of interest: e.g. if the proposal is framed in a competitive research project or international research project.

PARALLEL ACTIVITIES

We are opening the possibility to organise a parallel exhibition of graphic material related to the congress. Formats admitted are:

-       Photos of manifestations: in case you have been involved or had the chance to observe these movements in person we would appreciate if you could share your materials, like photos, leaflets picked in locus, posters, etc.. Send us your links to Flickr, Facebook, or any other social network in which your photos are posted.

-       Videos of mobilizations that can be posted in Social Networks like Youtube, Vimeo, etc.;

-       Recordings of interviews, direct testimonies (in mp3, mp4) or posted in Social Media Platforms;

-       Interesting websites (webography related to these movements that can be consulted during the conference; like bloggs, movements websites, etc.).

If you have any other ideas relating contents for these parallel activities please feel free to contact us and we will evaluate the possibility of including them.