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- Convenors:
-
Agnieszka Pasieka
(University of Montreal)
Mihir Sharma (Universität Bremen)
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- Chairs:
-
Mihir Sharma
(Universität Bremen)
Agnieszka Pasieka (University of Montreal)
- Discussant:
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Carna Brkovic
(University of Mainz)
- Format:
- Panel+Roundtable
Short Abstract:
This panel aims to interrogate the normative understandings behind the category of activist and create space for discussing untold and unwritten narratives of activism. We invite contributions which draw on specific case studies to discuss various definitions, practices and embodiments of activism.
Long Abstract:
Anthropologists have explored the ways in which social actors act upon reality: whether by imagining alternative lifeworlds and striving to change the circumstances in which they live, or by actively working towards the maintenance of the status quo. However, the categories of “activism” and “activist” tend to be imbued with a set of normative understandings. Thus, “activists” are seen predominantly as (post-)modern subjects, fighting for “progressive” causes, and often considered as a part of a social movement.
The goal is to interrogate the normative understandings behind the category of the activist discuss untold and unwritten narratives of activism. We aim to inspire a discussion on the limits and affordances of the categories of “activist.”
We invite contributions addressing the following aspects:
1) Historical and genealogical complexities: When and how do the terms activism and activist emerge? When and in which ways have they been used retroactively - to which ends and which effects?
2) Ethnographic: Why are ethnographic insights important for the study of activism?
3) Translation: How do we deal with the multiplicity of emic terms used to describe activism?
4) Definition(s): How do ethnographers find activists? Who “counts” as an activist and what “counts” as activism? What are the criteria for becoming /being /remaining /being recognized as activists?
In proposing a panel followed by a roundtable, we invite contributions which zoom out of specific cases to think across and in comparative ways the situatedness of specific articulations of activist practice, embodiment, identification, and relations.
This Panel+Roundtable has so far received 4 contribution proposal(s).
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