Browsing by Subject "Social movement"

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Activism and identity in the Somali community
(2023-05-04) Nimmons, Elizabeth A.; Rodriguez, Néstor; Auyero, Javier; Weitzman, Abigail; Abdi, Saida
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department, the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan community quickly mobilized for racial justice. Critical to this uprising was the role of the Somali community in the Twin Cities. Once conscious of distancing themselves from Black Americans, Somalis began taking an active role in advancing the Black Lives Matter movement in Minnesota. This dissertation is a study of the connections between identity and activism in the Somali community following the rise of Black Lives Matter, and particularly, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. The project considers how race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, and generation intersect to shape the experiences of Somalis in the Twin Cities and how these various identities impact participation in activist causes. I find that that Somali identity is kaleidoscopic in nature, and while others (e.g., law enforcement) may perceive Somalis in a relational way, Somalis themselves understand their own identities to be constantly multifaceted and intersectional. Furthermore, Somalis do not reject their Blackness, but rather openly acknowledge the role of race in their own lives and those of their children. Critically, Somalis are keenly aware of the ways their race puts them at risk of violence from law enforcement. Data also show that while young Somali-American adults may not explicitly embrace an American identity, they embody this identity socio-politically, as evidenced by their inclusion in what sociologist Ruth Milkman calls the New Political Generation. In addition, my analyses point to intersections of identity and activism, particularly regarding Somalis’ Black and Muslim identities and the ways they influence ideological affinity with Black Lives Matter. By using the case of Somalis to examine activism through the lens of identity, I expand what we know about immigrant participation in social movements and bring new voices to the struggle for racial justice.
Beyond obesity : historical, social change approaches to improve the fitness of Americans
(2014-08) Harrell, Baker Christian; Todd, Jan
America's growing concern about fatness during the twentieth century developed in parallel with a society that made it increasingly harder to live a healthy lifestyle. Since the 1970s, sweeping political, economic, cultural, and familial changes have occurred in the United States. Many researchers argue that these changes have created an "obesogenic" environment that has contributed to the increased prevalence of overweight and obesity in America by favoring inactivity and the over consumption of highly-processed, calorie-dense foods and beverages. As a result, the field of public health has increasingly begun to recognize obesity as a "societal disease." In 2001, The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity categorized the number of overweight and obese Americans as reaching "nationwide epidemic proportions." Since that time, America has waged an all-out "war on obesity." Instead of a broader emphasis on health promotion, some public health researchers have suggested that this heightened focus on obesity is 1) guided by America's historically-rooted social disdain for fatness and 2) insufficient to improve the healthy lifestyles of Americans. In searching for a solution to the so-called "obesity epidemic," a growing number of researchers have begun to look to models of social change. After an introductory chapter describing the scope of the problem, this dissertation provides an historical analysis of two, relevant social change models. The first historical case study is an examination of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's VERB social marketing campaign. The second study explores the model of social movements through the history of the aerobics "boom" of 1970s America. Based on these histories, this dissertation concludes by proposing a blended approach that harnesses the strengths of both models to organize and advance America's healthy living movement.
The blind leading the blind : frame alignment and membership meetness
(2014-08) Jeang, Janice Pam; Young, Michael P.
Membership in a social movement organization (SMO) and membership discourse provide space for participants to name and reconstitute their experiences, bodies, and self-images through an embodiment of organizational frames. This reconstitution is especially affirmed in the interaction of marginalized groups, such as individuals with disabilities, whom make up disability focused organizations and social movements. As a group with multiple intersectionalities, as well as an even smaller subsection of various marginalized populations, individuals with blindness face unique barriers when consideration of participants' identities and self-understandings is central in understanding entry as well as ongoing participation in organizations. Disability based organizations, represented by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), must carefully frame the organizational membership of certain individuals whom could threaten cohesion through differing understanding of identities, not revolving around disability. This thesis is an examination of the organizational discourse and the "membership meetness" of participating persons in the NFB. Goffman’s notion of “breaking frame” theoretically informs this analysis of organizational discourse produced by the 'collective blind' in one of the oldest American disability social movement organizations to date. The NFB’s attempt to mitigate the “broken frame” introduced by the incorporation of members whom are not seemingly suitable and do not self identify as blind, into an overwhelmingly blindness based enterprise is to strategically mend existing frames to reinterpret extant social norms. The purpose of this thesis is to use a grounded theory approach, to tease out how membership is framed. In the NFB, frame alignment is accomplished by: framing blindness through allies transformed as friends, framing blindness as a characteristic, framing blindness as respectability, and framing blindness through rhetorical humor in narrative. The above four frames to disability based social movements offers researchers the opportunity to understand how groups attempt to integrate into their activities members who lack “membership meetness” while simultaneously garnering support and advancing interests within the larger movement.
Contemporary White opposition to Black political action : the case of Black Lives Matter
(2018-05) Lee, Karen Hanhee; Pettit, Becky, 1970-
Scholars have long debated the significance of race in shaping the sociopolitical attitudes of White-Americans in the arena of race-based polices. But few studies have addressed this debate in the context of contemporary black political action. Using nationally representative data from the 2016 American National Election Studies Survey, I investigate the association between racial attitudes and White orientation towards Black Lives Matter, while controlling for prominent race-neutral explanations. Contrary to claims that modern opposition is fueled by ostensibly race-neutral factors such as general orientation towards protest and police, conservative ideology, or a moral equalitarian concern for all lives, I find that racial attitudes are the dominant predictors of contemporary White opposition to the movement. Furthermore, though scholars have argued that colorblind racism is the dominant racial schema of the 21st century, my results indicate that overt racism and nationalism are also highly significant schemas driving White opposition towards Black Lives Matter. Together these insights bring White opposition towards Black Lives Matter into sharper focus and serves as a window into race relations in the contemporary context.
Conversation with an Apple : play development as movement-building against mass incarceration
(2015-05) Goodnow, Natalie Marlena; Gutierrez, Laura G., 1968-; Alrutz, Megan; Jones, Omi Osun Joni L.
This reflective practitioner research project explores if and how viewing and responding to drafts of my original solo play in development, "Conversation with an Apple," contributes to efforts to build a movement against mass incarceration, with a particular focus on dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. I draw upon Michelle Alexander's theorization of mass incarceration in the United States, social movement theory elaborated and archived by contemporary activists, and theories in performance and affect studies to contextualize my investigation. I describe how I utilized Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process to elicit audience responses to staged readings of "Conversation with an Apple," and also how I employed modified grounded theory techniques to analyze those responses. I then explain how insights gained through these methodologies informed revisions of the "Conversation with an Apple" script and my plans for future post-show workshops. I conclude with an evaluation of the usefulness of these play development and research methodologies in my artistic practice. I find that both Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process and the modified grounded theory analysis I utilized, along with a return to my guiding theoretical frameworks, contributed meaningfully to my reflective practice, yielding several key insights. First, I discovered that the play does seem to have the potential to raise consciousness among audience members regarding multiple manifestations of mass incarceration as it affects young people, although I decided that a few key mechanisms of mass incarceration might be more fully elaborated through script revisions. Second, I found that when audiences responded to the play, the shared experience of viewing the performance functioned as a springboard for conversation about other shared experiences in their lives, thus building a sense of community in at least a small way. I also theorize that the act of transmitting heightened affect together while viewing this play built community. Finally, my analyses revealed that although some audience members felt outraged at the realities of mass incarceration and inspired to make a change, many felt hopeless after viewing the play. These analyses informed my most significant revisions to the "Conversation with an Apple" script and plans for post-show workshops.
Genetically modified soy production and small farmer resistance in San Pedro, Paraguay : finding space for dialogue in an overly-politicized agricultural landscape
(2010-05) McCown, Andrew Malone; Knapp, Gregory W.; Doolittle, William E.; Sletto, Bjorn
Paraguay has a long history of foreign involvement in its rural economy, dating back to even before the War of the Triple Alliance in the 1880’s. Whether it was yerba mate production or timber extraction, Paraguay’s rural activities were largely funded and run by foreign interests, with little room for participation by smallholders. With the growth in production of Genetically Modified (GM) soy, Paraguay continues to follow the same model for development, one of export-oriented agriculture produced primarily with foreign capital. The expansion GM soy in San Pedro, Paraguay is meeting with considerable resistance, though, as smallholders and landless workers claim that the use of the broad spectrum herbicide, glyphosate, threatens their health, land and livelihoods. The contentious debate that has sprung up around this issue has polarized Paraguayan society and oversimplified the problems facing Paraguay’s rural development society. The over-politicization of the conflict has eliminated the space for nuance in finding solutions and room for dialogue.
Guerra del Gas: resistance, subaltern counterpublics, and indigenous rhetoric in Bolivia
(2009-12) Naputi, Tiara Rose; Cloud, Dana L.; Arias, Arturo
This thesis presents a rhetorical analysis of the Guerra del Gas movement in Bolivia from 2003 to 2005. It views the social movement and its major uprisings as emerging from a subaltern counterpublic that grounded its resistance in uniquely indigenous rhetoric. Chapter one provides a theoretical framework for understanding indigenous rhetoric as embodying a discourse of subaltern sensibilities and situating subaltern counterpublic theory within the historic-cultural situation of Bolivia to understand contemporary struggles over natural resources and against neoliberal politics within the country. The indigenous rhetoric of the Guerra del Gas movement provided a direct refutation of natural gas privatization and neoliberal hegemony. The second chapter is a case study that explores the indigenous rhetoric of the October 2003 and May-June 2005 uprisings that characterized the subaltern counterpublic sphere of the Guerra del Gas movement. In chapter three the theoretical frame of subaltern rhetoric is established to analyze Evo Morales’ inaugural address as an embodiment of a discourse of subaltern sensibilities. The conclusion chapter offers some directions for further research and considers how understanding indigenous rhetoric has implications for social struggle and organized resistance in a world of increasing globalization and neoliberal hegemonic policymaking.
Land redistribution and Dalit assertion : mapping social change in Gaya, Bihar
(2016-05) Prasad, Indulata; Hale, Charles R., 1957-; Visweswaran, Kamala; Rudrappa, Sharmila; Speed, Shannon; Vargas, João H Costa; Franklin, Maria
This dissertation uses social mapping in conjunction with ethnography to undertake a spatial analysis of the long-term effects of legal rights to redistributed land among Dalit communities in Bihar, to reframe what land means to these communities and how it has transformed their immediate social landscape and subjectivities. It does so by assessing questions undergirding the long-term impact of the Bodh Gaya land struggle—that for the first time in the history of social movements in South Asia— resulted in primarily Dalits, including women, securing joint titles along with their husbands. How has ownership of redistributed land shaped Dalit subjectivities in rural South Bihar? What do the altered material and social conditions of Dalits tell us about the claims made by land-based social movements and the State? How have acquiring productive assets for Dalits, a historically marginalized population, altered what is referred to as the ‘hidden apartheid’ in rural India? In answering these questions, attention to social space is crucial, as little attention has been paid to the ways in which rural spatial segregation within the village re-inscribes caste on a daily basis. First, the ownership of redistributed land has allowed for the emergence of a “politics of becoming” that actively opposes practices that perpetuate the social exclusion of Dalits. Through the actual control (kabza) over state owned land, previously under the control of the landed castes/elites, Dalits are effectively undermining the century old practices of kamiauti or servitude in the region and questioning old forms of caste mediated and gender relationships. Second, despite the mainstreaming of gender and land rights issues, the state bureaucracy continues to act as ‘machines for the social production of indifference’ toward the Dalit community. The ‘bureaucratic phase’ of the land struggle is characterized by prolonged inaction that has worked to not only intensify Dalit social suffering, but also has jeopardized the viability of peaceful forms of mobilization and resistance.
Masters not friends : land, labor and politics of place in rural Pakistan
(2013-05) Rizvi, Mubbashir Abbas; Ali, Kamran Asdar, 1961-
This dissertation analyzes the cultural significance of land relations and caste/religious identity to understand political subjectivity in Punjab, Pakistan. The ethnography details the vicissitudes of a peasant land rights movement, Anjuman-e Mazarin Punjab (Punjab Tenants Association) that is struggling to retain land rights on vast agricultural farms controlled by the Pakistan army. The dissertation argues that land struggles should not only be understood in tropes of locality, but also as interconnected processes that attend to global and local changes in governance. To emphasize these connections, the dissertation gives a relational understanding of 'politics of place' that attends to a range of practices from the history of colonial infrastructure projects (the building of canals, roads and model villages) that transformed this agricultural frontier into the heart of British colonial administration. Similarly, the ethnographic chapters relate the history of 'place making' to the present day uncertainty for small tenant sharecroppers who defied the Pakistan Army's attempts to change land relations in the military farms. Within these parameters, this ethnographic study offers a "thick description" of Punjab Tenants Association to analyze the internal shifts in loyalties and alignments during the course of the protest movement by looking at how caste, religious and/or class relations gain or lose significance in the process. My research seeks to counter the predominant understanding of Muslim political subjectivity, which privileges religious beliefs over social practices and regional identity. Another aspect of my work elucidates the symbolic exchange between the infrastructural project of irrigation, railway construction and regional modernity in central Punjab. The network of canals, roads and railways transformed the semi-arid region of Indus Plains and created a unique relationship between the state and rural society in central Punjab. However, this close relationship between rural Punjab and state administration is not void of conflict but rather it indicates a complex sense of attachment and alienation, inclusion and exclusion from the state.
Silence, morality, and the religious Left : strategies for voice in the public sphere
(2021-07-30) Wong, Joansandy M.; Cloud, Dana L.; Gunn, Joshua, 1973-; Jarvis, Sharon E.; Chávez, Karma R.
Due to internal fragmentation on the Left and the systemic silencing of the religious Left, the Right continues to dominate the morality narrative in the public sphere, leading to a misconstrued understanding of what constitutes the common good. Two prominent movements led by the religious Left were rhetorically analyzed to determine strategies used by the religious Left to successfully counter silencing tactics and reclaim the moral authority in the public sphere. These successful movements shared similarities. Both movements had charismatic and competent leaders who used storytelling and the prophetic tradition to frame their social justice cause as morally righteous. Both movements were attacked by powerful establishment forces that attempted to label the activists as outside the norm or bounds of the institution. Additionally, both movement leaders seized on the opportunity created by the establishment’s attack and strategically used media saturation to counter the Right’s silencing tactics. Finally, these religious leaders gained and used political capital to continue the ongoing fight for justice. The religious Left is a powerful ally that brings a rich prophetic rhetorical tradition, historic personal and group rituals, unifying bridging tactics, communities of passionate activists who view justice as a moral imperative, and charismatic leaders who imbue the struggle with moral righteousness. These case studies suggest that the Right’s claim on moral authority is contestable. It also provides support for the contention that there is space in the public sphere for the deliberation of values and for critical debate on what constitutes the common good.