Workshop on Ethnographies of Activism

Tentative Workshop date: 29 February 2008, at London School of Economics

Abstract Deadline: 10 Sept 2007

Decisions by Oct 2007.

We would like to invite you to consider participating in a small workshop on Ethnographies of Activism, tentatively set for 29 February 2008 in London.

The first keyword in our title is 'Activism'.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines activism as, first, an early 20thc "philosophical theory which assumes the objective reality and active existence of everything" and, secondly, a later 20thc normative sense of "a doctrine or policy of advocating energetic action."  The first definition - the ontological commitment to realism and the mutability of things - persists in the second definition, as energetic human action.  If we combine both elements, it is reasonable to suggest that activism is energetic action oriented towards changing the order of things.  Pausing with this definition for a moment we note that this action has to be significant for it to represent change. 

First, the study of activism and activists, we think, ought to encompass the 'vanguard' and 'rank and file' of various political movements, including self-professed 'progressives' and 'conservatives' of various stripes: whether as 19th century socialists and unionists, early 20thc fascists, contemporary non-governmental organisations and campaigners, resurgent religious nationalists, feminists or 'traditional'  women's groups, gay rights campaigners or vigilantes.  Indeed, some of the most challenging work on these kinds of groupings finds innovative ideas about humanity, justice, welfare, intimacy and mutuality in these collectivities.  For the purpose of the workshop we would nevertheless like to focus on activism that is self-consciously oriented towards transforming social relations in a radically progressive, rather than conservative direction, with expressed intentions to transform social relations in order to expand spaces of equality, justice, redistribution, and redress of violent legacies, however these notions translate into practice.  In doing so we do not deny that the will to change social relations has multiple origins and idioms, but that far from emerging from revolutions in European philosophical thought, it emerged from many struggles and various peripheries.  The purpose of this workshop will be to highlight these multiple origins of 'progressive' theory and practice.

This concern with global diversity and multiple origins is central to our second keyword, 'ethnography.'  Brusquely put, the central presumption of ethnography is an empathetic yet critical solidarity with the other.  It is fair to say that the majority of those who understand themselves as professional ethnographers find it difficult to put their social science to the test of social change.  One would be hard pressed to pose ethnography as intrinsically activist, in other words.  However, many ethnographers have shaped their work in relation to broader political commitments (Wolf, Mintz, feminist ethnography, Yanomami debates, etc), despite the fact that professional ethnographers are treated with skepticism from the academy when they engage in activism.  If we think with Antonio Gramsci's vision of all humans as intellectuals engaged in interpretive labour, however, we are freed from linking 'ethnography' solely with the practices of professional ethnographers.  Humans who put this interpretive work to use in representations that express empathetic yet critical solidarity with others ought to be seen as ethnographers, even if they don't build their careers on these skills.  Indeed, dealing with the plurality of the human species and negotiating relations with nature, society and the built environment are critical aspects of what Hannah Arendt calls vita activa.  Arendt argues that all human activity is conditioned, and premised on 'a multitude of human beings', but it is useful to distinguish between the life-regenerating activity of 'labour', the artifactual or world-making activity of 'work', and the activity between the plurality of 'men, not Man' in 'action.'  We hold onto this framework for its dual insistence on human plurality, also central to ethnography, and for its insistence on the centrality of politics to Arendt's notion of action.  This concern with 'activism', 'action' and politics forces us to take 'ethnography' out of the academy, back to the plurality of the human condition.

The workshop asks how we can think of these two domains as interconnected: energetic action to transform social relations, on the one hand; and representation of the other through critical yet empathetic solidarity, on the other.  It is here that our notion of 'progressive' activism becomes more defensible as an endeavour, as any activism that is truly built through critical yet empathetic solidarity with the other must necessarily aim to build mutuality rather than relations of harm and exclusion.

What we propose is to bring together people who have an interest in ethnography, and who think critically and in solidarity with various forms of activism and activists..  Some of these people may be self-defined activists, but all ought to relate, if not find solidarity with, various attempts to envision 'progressive' social transformations, whether posed in terms of social justice, political economic inclusion, property redistribution and spatial justice, feminism and queer politics, anti-racism, etc.  We invite people writing or thinking ethnographically about activism and activists across forms, sites, topics, regions, rhetorical strategies and modes of representation.  We do not aim to be comprehensive, and indeed, we note at the inception of this project that our own biases with respect to South Asia and South Africa may well be reflected in the set of people who might come to engage critically in the workshop and possible volume.  What we would like to do is create the conditions for empathetic yet critical conversation linking ethnographic and activist commitments across disciplines.

Structure:

Rather than the conventional Keynote and Panel of Speakers format, we propose something a bit different.  We invite contributions from individuals and collectives to engage in sessions followed by collective discussions.

 1. Ethnographies of Activists - Militant / Traitor / Critic

Through what moralities and values do people become 'energetically active' in order to challenge the status quo?  What makes one an activist, and what are the cultural models of activism involved in becoming an activist? 

For example, the Sangtin Collective from Uttar Pradesh, India, have written critically about their 'shortened childhoods' and this reflective writing is part of the way they explain their emergence into feminist activism.  We invite collective voices such as theirs, and we invite contributions from various individuals engaged in writing on this general theme to participate in a session and discussion on this topic.

Several ethnographers writing about activism find themselves caught between critique and solidarity, at once feeling common cause with the struggle at hand, and yet critical of the modes of authority deployed in that activism.  There is always the risk of being branded a spy or a traitor for this kind of ethnographic commitment, as it is not part of the activist cadre, and it requires a certain amount of autonomy and distance to question the categories employed: for instance what makes a 'real Maoist', or a 'real underground activist'?  Activist membership requires its own power relations, and activist histories often create their own mythologies, often through strongly gendered terms.  'Ethnographies of Activism' may want to differentiate themselves from the self-understandings of specific activist communities at certain moments, to highlight their internal contradictions.  Once more, we stress the dual aspect of ethnography as solidarity and critique, in order to suggest that activist ethnography does not simply become the traitor's story, but in fact allows the traitor space to critique activist norms.

We invite former activists to reflect on the conditions of activism that become apparent in retrospect, as it becomes impossible to ignore the tensions between critique and solidarity as may have been necessary under the conditions of 'discipline' or 'revolutionary necessity'.

2. Activist Ethnographies as Critical Resistance - Scribe / Witness / Testimony

What happens when everyday activists take seriously their capacity to formulate their own visions rather than cede these to the anthropologists.  This is precisely what the shackdwellers movement in contemporary South Africa, Abahlali base Mjondolo (ABM) have argued, in forming what they call the University of Abahlali base Mjondolo.  The term 'critical resistance' is borrowed from the anti-prison movement in California, which has generated participant critique and solidarity alongside its activism.  We invite collectives such as these to speak of their intellectual practice, and we invite others who have been thinking of activists as ethnographers. 

What are the conditions under which ethnographers see their work as not simply about re-presenting existing values and moralities in the world, but also of taking the politics of their representations seriously?  In particular, what happens when ethnographers represent in order to transform, or in order to think of how transformations can be enabled.

One of the most compelling ethnographer activists is David Graeber, whose writings on Marx and Mauss, anarchism, direct action, and the politics of anthropology provide a careful optic into work of the ethnographer as an activist.  We invite people to speak on this theme.  We also invite participants in or associated with collectives such as Precarias a la Deriva from Madrid who have been thinking theoretically about activism, and we ask them to think ethnographically about the practical instances of their intellectual work.  This session ought also to engage with the many failed attempts at alliance between academics and activists, but also the successful relations that we can learn from.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, PLEASE CONTACT US THROUGH THE EMAILS ABOVE, AND PLEASE SEND US A TITLE AND 250 WORD ABSTRACT BY SEPT 10 2007.

PLEASE NOTE THAT SINCE FUNDING WILL LIKELY BE QUITE LIMITED, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO FIND FUNDING FROM YOUR HOME INSTITUTIONS FOR TRAVEL AND SUBSISTENCE.  MORE ON THIS AS THINGS PROCEED.

Thanks for your consideration; we look forward to hearing from you.

Best Wishes,

Sharad Chari and Henrike Donner.

Sharad Chari
Lecturer in Human Geography
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE

Henrike Donner, This Email address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sharad Chari, This Email address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
 

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