Search results

Semantically, "activist" and "activism" are convenient descriptors for participants in social movements and are commonly used by social movement scholars. This study demonstrates, however, that these labels obscure the complex decisions participants make in negotiating their involvement. Few researchers examine the importance of deconstructing traditional assumptions of activist identities and the nuances in activist negotiation and identification. Using qualitative research methods, this paper explores whether social movement participants engage in complex identity negotiations wherein they interactionally situate and critically assess their involvement. This research draws on in-depth interviews conducted with 58 social movement participants from two local-level, contemporary social movements: The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street Movements. Respondents provided complex narratives about their activist and non-activist identities, which became apparent through analyzing the interviews using thematic coding. The findings show that respondents do negotiate their identities along a spectrum from activist to non-activist through interaction with other participants and critical assessment of their own involvement. These findings also reveal that the process of differential activist identification has short- and long-term implications for participant involvement and collective identity where disagreements over the activist label can fracture the organization and sustainability of a movement. By assessing the ways movement participants identify with activism and how they use their identification through interaction to promote or deconstruct group solidarity, we can begin to explore the consequences of this type of identity politics for contemporary social movements.

Cover -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- Best All Around: Harriet Tubman -- Most Loyal: Dede Mirabal -- Most Distinguishable: Voice Coretta Scott King -- Most Determined: Grace Lee Boggs -- Biggest Dreamer: Victoria Woodhull -- Earth's Best Friend: Wangari Maathai -- Most Caring: Lizzy Lind -- Most Proud: Barbara Gittings -- Best Team: Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton -- Best Yearbook Editor: Amelia Jenks Bloomer -- Best Sense of Humor: Wilma Mankiller -- Most Likely to Lead a Protest: Mother Jones -- Your Turn! -- Consider This! -- Glossary -- Index.

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- What Is an Activist? -- Activism Through the Years -- Be Informed -- The Reasons Why -- It's Important to Listen -- Hit the Streets -- The Power of Words -- Raise Your Voice -- Helping Hands -- Change the World! -- Glossary -- For More Information -- Index -- Back Cover

Students have protested high school dress codes and their obligation to recite anthems and pledges. Teen activists such as Jamie Margolin, the founder of Zero Hour, and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez have made their voices heard on climate change. Teens have rallied around transgender students Lila Perry and Gavin Grimm for the right to use their preferred restrooms. After the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 people, the nation met a new group of teen activists, including Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg. It was hardly the first school shooting the nation had seen; for students, it was the last straw. Rallying for stricter gun laws, high school students must now balance their journey through adolescence with the weight of political activism. Readers will engage with this timely collection, complete with media literacy terms and questions.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER 1: WOMEN AND ACTIVISM -- CHAPTER 2: WOMEN IN THE MEDIA -- CHAPTER 3: IMAGE, ABILITY, AND HEALTH -- CHAPTER 4: FIGHTING FOR WOMEN-AND AGAINST VIOLENCE -- CHAPTER 5: FIGHTING FOR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS -- CHAPTER 6: FIGHTING FOR WOMEN GLOBALLY -- CHAPTER 7: STARTING AT HOME -- GLOSSARY -- FOR MORE INFORMATION -- FOR FURTHER READING -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- Back Cover

Intro -- Title Page -- Foreword -- Introduction -- 1. Julia Butterfly Hill -- 2. Wangari Maathai -- 3. Dolores Huerta -- 4. Emma Watson -- 5. Clara Lemlich -- 6. Alexandra "Alex" Scott -- 7. Ida B. Wells -- 8. Sonita Alizadeh -- 9. Melati and Isabel Wijsen -- 10. Judy Heumann -- 11. LeeAnne Walters -- 12. Marley Dias -- 13. Lizzie Velasquez -- 14. Billie Jean King -- 15. Betty Kwan Chinn -- 16. Lady Gaga -- 17. Emma González -- 18. Rachel Carson -- 19. Christie Begnell -- 20. Jasilyn Charger -- 21. Jane Goodall -- 22. Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga -- 23. Jazz Jennings -- 24. Sophie Cruz -- 25. Lidiya Yankovskaya -- 26. Malala Yousafzai -- 27. Madison Stewart -- 28. Alicia Garza, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, and Opal Tometi -- 29. Amythest Schaber -- 30. Maysoon Zayid -- 31. Eleanor Roosevelt -- 32. Lilly Ledbetter -- 33. Rosa Parks -- 34. LaDonna Redmond -- 35. Jennifer Flynn Walker -- 36. Shirin Ebadi -- 37. Gloria Steinem -- 38. Yara Shahidi -- 39. Susan B. Anthony -- Learn More! -- Copyright.

Those who regard him as a doom and gloom critic will find an unexpected Chomsky in these pages. Here the world-renowned author speaks for the first time in depth about his career in activism, and his views and tactics. Chomsky offers new and intimate details about his life-long experience as an activist, revealing him as a critic with deep convictions and many surprising insights about movement strategies. The book points to new directions for activists today, including how the crises of the Coronavirus and the economic meltdown are exploding in the critical 2020 US presidential election year. Readers will find hope and new pathways toward a sustainable, democratic world.

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- Part 1 Reflections on a Life of Activism -- 1 How It All Got Started -- 2 Stories of Global Activism -- Part 2 Movements Matter -- 3 Coming Together: Organizing for Survival with Justice -- 4 Enhanced Exploitation: The Neoliberal Project -- 5 Identity Politics and Class Politics: Common Interests, Labor, and Collective Action -- 6 Activists and Evangelicals: Organizing across the Cultural Divide -- 7 Identity, Intersectionality, and Universalizing Resistance -- 8 Activism and Fascism: Then and Now -- 9 Activists, Movements, and Electoral Politics: The Critique of Anti-Trumpism -- 10 Activism in the Age of Extinction -- 11 The Movement and Third Parties -- 12 Overcoming Isolation and Powerlessness: Movements and Community -- Part 3 100 Seconds to Midnight -- 13 Confronting Climate Change, War, and Pandemics in the Trump Era -- Part 4 Reflections from Activists -- 14 Making Me Feel that I Could Join with Others -- 15 I'm a Citizen of the United States and I Have a Share of Responsibility for What It Does -- 16 What Chomsky Taught Me about Militancy -- 17 Celebrating Chomsky: Challenging the Opposition to History -- 18 Never Meet Your Heroes? -- 19 So We Turned to Noam -- 20 Never Lose Faith in Humanity -- 21 Strengthening the Spirit of Middle East Activists -- 22 Human Freedoms are not Gift from Above -- 23 Puncturing the Wall of Lies and Deception -- 24 Mind and Hearts Cracked Open -- 25 He Has Never Stopped -- Contributors -- Index.

Cover Page -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- What Is an Activist? -- Sojourner Truth Feminist and Abolitionist -- Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Conductor -- Mary Seacole The War Nurse -- Frederick Douglass Inspirational Speaker -- Marcus Garvey Back-to-Africa Movement -- Rosa Parks Mother of the Civil Rights Movement -- Malcolm X Black Nationalist -- Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Hero -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu Antiapartheid Activist -- Oprah Winfrey Modern Campaigner -- Other Activists -- Timeline -- Legacy -- Glossary -- Index

Exploring what it means to enact feminist geography, this book joins cases of collaborative research with social justice activist movements. From Black feminist organizing in the American South to feminist geography collectives in Latin America, the book showcases activist-engaged scholarship from the global north and south.