The organisers of the network ‘Global Solidarity Activism – Connecting Local and Global Histories’ invite paper submissions for a workshop to be held in Malmö, Sweden that will examine histories of activism in global solidarity movements.
Temporally, we are interested in papers that focus on the 1960s onwards and are particularly keen to hear from researchers who are examining activism and solidarity as a set of ‘social and affective relations.’[1] Drawing inspiration from Ruth Craggs’ scholarship on subaltern geopolitics, we are concerned with further interrogating how ‘friendship and familiarity’ sustained activist networks in the late twentieth century. The solidarity movements discussed might include (but are not limited to) anti-apartheid organisations, movements supporting the liberation of Portuguese colonies, Vietnam War protest movements, Palestinian solidarity movements, and movements in opposition to Latin American dictatorships. As methodological magpies[2], the organisers are interested in discussing how theoretical and methodological insights gained from other academic disciplines might be used to further our knowledge and understanding of solidarity movement history. We therefore encourage submissions from scholars working in both the humanities and the social sciences.
Possible topics of discussion might include:
- Activists’ personal and professional networks;
- Lived experiences within solidarity movements;
- The role of the local in the creation of global activism;
- The role of emotions in solidarity activism;
- Ad-hoc and piecemeal activism;
- Differences and tensions between activist groups;
- The connection between non-governmental global networks and national histories;
- How solidarity activism has been translated into diplomacy and bilateral relations at the end of war or post liberation.
Please submit titles, brief abstracts (250 words) and a biography to Emma Lundin (emma.lundin@mau.se) by 15 February. We will endeavour to notify all participants by 28 February. The workshop is funded by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation (Riksbankens jubileumsfond) and has a budget that covers travel and accommodation, as well as visa costs if applicable. PhD students, ECR and precariously employed academics, and colleagues in the Global South are all encouraged to submit abstracts.
For more information, visit the Global Solidarity Activism network website: https://globalsolidarityactivism.uni.mau.se/
Dr Emma Lundin, Malmö University (emma.lundin@mau.se)
Dr Kate Law, University of Nottingham (kate.law@nottingham.ac.uk)
[1] R. Craggs, ‘Subaltern geopolitics and the post-colonial Commonwealth, 1965–1990’, Political Geography, Vol. 65 (2018), p. 46.
[2] S. Carter, ‘The methodology of magpies’, International Journal of Research & Method in Education, Vol. 37, No. 2 (2013), 125–136.