Universität Wien

240529 SE Social movements, protests and counter-power: Anthropological perspectives (P4) (2022S)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 24 - Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
Continuous assessment of course work

Participation at first session is obligatory!

The lecturer can invite students to a grade-relevant discussion about partial achievements. Partial achievements that are obtained by fraud or plagiarized result in the non-evaluation of the course (entry 'X' in certificate). The plagiarism software 'Turnitin' will be used for courses with continuous assessment.
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Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 20 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Update February 17th:
The course will start on May 10th.

If possible, the course is to be conducted in presence. Due to the respective applicable distance regulations and other measures, adjustments may be made.

Tuesday 10.05. 09:45 - 13:00 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock
Tuesday 17.05. 09:45 - 13:00 Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
Tuesday 24.05. 09:45 - 13:00 Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
Tuesday 31.05. 09:45 - 13:00 Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
Tuesday 14.06. 09:45 - 13:00 Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock
Tuesday 21.06. 09:45 - 13:00 Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock
Tuesday 28.06. 09:45 - 13:00 Hörsaal A, NIG 4.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Why do people protest and organize to change the world around them? Why do some social movements succeed, while others fail? How do expressions of protest, ideas of change, means of action differ from place to place? This course will explore different manifestations of protest and resistance by taking under scrutiny socio-political developments across the globe. It aims at addressing questions that are central to anthropological investigations of social movements and, more broadly, counter-power and social change; individual and collective agency; political subjectivity; modes of action and organizational structures; group mobilization and processes of activist “habitus” formation; ideas of utopia, change, critique; perceptions of ideas of justice, deservingness, common good; universality vs particularism.

The course will begin with a critical overview of the theoretical frameworks that have long dominated in the study of social movements and resistance. It will then proceed by exploring various ethnographic works on social movements and resistance and the ways these works contribute to theory- building, not only providing novel ways of looking at and interpreting social activism but also contributing to anthropological theory more broadly. The ethnographic case-studies to be discussed will allow us to explore a variety of issues: class, gender, ethnicity, religion as key-constituents of social protest and social action; impact of the discourse on women’s rights, human rights, environmentalism; socio-economic developments; transnational versus local movements; as well as different forms of protest, resistance and counter-power. This will help us to problematize the dichotomic take on passivity/activism, submission/resistance, violence/non-violence. We will also reflect on the problem of bias in the study of social movements and resistance, interrogating why the analyses of “less sympathetic”, “non-progressive” movements and protests remain scarce.

Teaching techniques:
1) Discussions on the assigned readings and other material (e.g. documentaries).
2) Active research, potentially including participant observation, of selected events.
3) Writing (reflections, (field)notes, final paper).

Assessment and permitted materials

1) Active participation in class, contribution to in-class group assignments, and reading of, and reflection on, assigned literature. This will count towards 40 points of the final mark.
2) Each student will select a particular (historical or contemporary) social movement, protest or struggle, be it a revolution, independence movement, etc. A file with information of, and reflection on, the respective movement/protest/struggle – in relation to the various themes discussed – is kept and submitted at the end of the course. This will count towards 30 points of the final mark.
3) Each student will write an individual reflection of 2,000 to 3,000 words on their respective movement/protest/struggle (with a proper research question), to be handed in at the end of the course. This will count towards 30 points of the final mark.

Grading scale:
91-100 points = 1 (very good)
81-90 points = 2 (good)
71-80 points = 3 (satisfactory)
61-70 points = 4 (sufficient)
0-60 points = 5 (not sufficient)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

1) Presence and active participation in the seminar.
2) With prior notification and a valid reason, an absence of a maximum of 20% of the total hours, i.e. one (double) session, will be allowed.
3) All assignments have to be completed.

Examination topics

Reading list

Various articles and chapters, such as:

- Juris, Jeffrey S. 2005. Violence performed and imagined: Militant action, the Black Bloc and the mass media in Genoa. Critique of Anthropology 25 (4): 413–432.
- Pleyers, Geoffrey. 2013. From local ethnographies to global movement: Experience, subjectivity, and power among four alter-globalization actors. In: J.S. Juris and A. Khasnabish (eds.), Insurgent Encounters: Transnational Activism, Ethnography, and the Political. Durham and London: Duke University Press, pp. 108–126.
- Salverda, Tijo. 2019. Facing criticism: An analysis of (land-based) corporate responses to the large-scale land acquisition countermovement. Journal of Peasant Studies 46 (5): 1003–1020.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Th 28.04.2022 11:49