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Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements
This cutting-edge and authoritative Handbook covers a broad spectrum of social movement research methodologies, offering expert analysis and detailed accounts of the ways by which research can effectively be carried out on social movements and popular protests. Addressing practice-oriented questions, this Handbook engages with both theoretical and political considerations, unpacking the multidimensional nature of social movement research.
More Information
Critical Acclaim
Contributors
Contents
More Information
This cutting-edge and authoritative Handbook covers a broad spectrum of social movement research methodologies, offering expert analysis and detailed accounts of the ways in which research can effectively be carried out on social movements and popular protests. Addressing practice-oriented questions, this Handbook engages with both theoretical and political dimensions, unpacking the multidimensional nature of social movement research for new and established scholars alike and for movement-based as well as academic researchers across many disciplines.
Divided into three thematic sections, this stimulating Handbook dives deep into discussions relating to the methodological challenges raised by researching social movements, the technical questions of how such research is conducted, and then to more practical considerations about the uses and applications of movement research. Expert contributors and established researchers utilise real-world examples to explore the methodological challenges from a range of perspectives including classical, engaged, feminist, Black, Indigenous and global Southern viewpoints.
The Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements will not only appeal to experienced researchers, but also to activists who have started to think about researching their own movements and to politically engaged students. It speaks to new and established scholars in relevant disciplines such as sociology, political science, anthropology, geography, development studies, gender studies, and race and ethnic studies, and particularly those looking to better appreciate the different research methods for understanding social movements.
Divided into three thematic sections, this stimulating Handbook dives deep into discussions relating to the methodological challenges raised by researching social movements, the technical questions of how such research is conducted, and then to more practical considerations about the uses and applications of movement research. Expert contributors and established researchers utilise real-world examples to explore the methodological challenges from a range of perspectives including classical, engaged, feminist, Black, Indigenous and global Southern viewpoints.
The Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements will not only appeal to experienced researchers, but also to activists who have started to think about researching their own movements and to politically engaged students. It speaks to new and established scholars in relevant disciplines such as sociology, political science, anthropology, geography, development studies, gender studies, and race and ethnic studies, and particularly those looking to better appreciate the different research methods for understanding social movements.
Critical Acclaim
‘The editors have assembled a powerful toolbox for students and scholars of global social movements. The chapters include data rich analyses that illustrate innovative theoretical and methodological approaches to participatory, collaborative and community-based research. The contributors make a strong case for the urgency of research that can produce ethical dialogues, movement strategies, and principled actions.’
– Keisha-Khan Y. Perry, University of Pennsylvania, US and author of Black Women against the Land Grab: The Fight for Racial Justice in Brazil
‘A copious compilation for social movement research, attentive to movement-relevant knowledge and conscious of western ventriloquism and the political diminishment of southern movements as empirical fodder for northern theorizing. For academic and activist alike, a politically productive resource that will travel across forests, fields, shantytowns, factories, university classrooms and libraries.’
– Dip Kapoor, University of Alberta, Canada and author of Research, Political Engagement and Dispossession: Indigenous, Peasant and Urban Poor Activisms in the Americas and Asia (2019)
– Keisha-Khan Y. Perry, University of Pennsylvania, US and author of Black Women against the Land Grab: The Fight for Racial Justice in Brazil
‘A copious compilation for social movement research, attentive to movement-relevant knowledge and conscious of western ventriloquism and the political diminishment of southern movements as empirical fodder for northern theorizing. For academic and activist alike, a politically productive resource that will travel across forests, fields, shantytowns, factories, university classrooms and libraries.’
– Dip Kapoor, University of Alberta, Canada and author of Research, Political Engagement and Dispossession: Indigenous, Peasant and Urban Poor Activisms in the Americas and Asia (2019)
Contributors
Contributors include: Natasha Adams, Sarah Anaïs Andrieu, Alberto Arribas Lozano, Geri Augusto, Joel Mark Baysa-Barredo, Stefan Berger, Giuseppe Bolotta, Jane Burt, Sevil Çakır Kılınçoğlu, Tiago Carvalho, Steve Chase, Sutapa Chattopadhyay, Laurence Cox, Minati Dash, Donatella della Porta, Gloria Truly Estrelita, David W. Everson, Gabriel Facal, Robert M. Fishman, Carlos Y. Flores, Wesley Hogan, Axel Köhler, John Krinsky, Xochitl Leyva Solano, Tokelo Mahlakoane, Danita Mason-Hogans, Eustine Matsepane, Cinzia Padovani, Aurora Perego, Susann Pham, Keneilwe Phatshwane, Geoffrey Pleyers, John Postill, Emily Rainsford, Joanne Rappaport, Paola Rivetti, Arnab Roy Chowdhury, Ayse Sargin, Clare Saunders, Catherine Scheer, Rosalia Sciortino Sumaryono, Anna Szolucha, Magdalena Sztandara, Mmathapelo Thobejane, Katrin Uba, Stefania Vicari, Saskia E. Wieringa, Wijayanto, Özge Yaka
Contents
Contents:
1 How can we research social movements? An introduction 1
Alberto Arribas Lozano, Anna Szolucha, Sutapa Chattopadhyay and
Laurence Cox
PART I APPROACHES TO RESEARCHING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
2 Researching global movements: practices, dialogues and ethics 24
Geoffrey Pleyers
3 Feminist methodologies in social movement studies: gender,
positionality and research in practice 36
Özge Yaka and Sevil Çakır Kılınçoğlu
4 Research from, with and for indigenous social movements 50
Xochitl Leyva Solano and Axel Köhler
5 Social movements as learning communities, researchers and knowledge
producers 63
Alberto Arribas Lozano
6 A Marxist approach to researching social movements 77
John Krinsky
7 Researching social movements in authoritarian states: preparing and
conducting fieldwork in Iran and Turkey 91
Paola Rivetti
8 Cross-sectoral dialogues with social movements in Southeast Asia:
translating values, affects, and practices in a polymorphic region 102
Gabriel Facal, Catherine Scheer, Sarah Anaïs Andrieu, Joel Mark
Baysa-Barredo, Giuseppe Bolotta, Gloria Truly Estrelita, Rosalia Sciortino,
Saskia Wieringa, and Wijayanto
9 Methodological pluralism in social movement studies: why and how 115
Donatella della Porta
PART II DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS IN SOCIAL
MOVEMENT RESEARCH
10 Learning within freedom movements: using critical oral history methodology 128
Geri Augusto, Danita Mason-Hogans, and Wesley Hogan
11 Doing digital ethnography: a comparison of two social movement studies 144
John Postill
12 Media and communication activism: doing ethnography with ultra-right
and progressive social movements 159
Cinzia Padovani
13 Visual research with Mayan social movements in Guatemala: a critical
approach 168
Carlos Y. Flores
14 Back and forth: militant ethnography in the ‘crowded fields’ 182
Magdalena Sztandara
15 Making sense of the Narmada movements through Adivasi narratives 197
Sutapa Chattopadhyay
16 The art of talks and conversations in Indigenous research: decolonising
interview methods 214
Keneilwe Phatshwane
17 Researching social movement participation in the Global South: what to
do after discovering and recording plural and ambiguous narratives in
the field? 230
Minati Dash
18 Using surveys to study demonstrators 243
Emily Rainsford and Clare Saunders
19 Analysing protest events: a quantitative and systematic approach 257
Tiago Carvalho
20 How do grievances become manifestos? Developing frame analysis in
social movement research 271
Aurora Perego and Stefania Vicari
21 Researching identity and culture in place-based struggles 290
Ayse Sargin
22 Researching ideologies and social movements: why and how? 306
Susann Pham
23 ‘Repertoires of contention’: examining concept, method, context and practice 321
Arnab Roy Chowdhury
24 Searching for mechanisms of social movement success: research on
political and cultural underpinnings of protestors’ impact 336
David W. Everson and Robert M. Fishman
25 Historical approaches to researching social movements 349
Stefan Berger
PART III APPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL MOVEMENT RESEARCH
26 A story of three activists: the value of activist action research in social
movement learning 365
Jane Burt, Tokelo Mahlakoane, Eustine Matsepane and Mmathapelo
Thobejane
27 Community-based research: approaches, principles and challenges 377
Anna Szolucha
28 Participatory research as activism: Orlando Fals Borda and the Latin
American tradition of engaged research 387
Joanne Rappaport
29 Participatory action research in social movements 399
Laurence Cox
30 Using research in movement strategy 409
Natasha Adams
31 Research methods for studying collective action outcomes 420
Katrin Uba
32 Civil resistance research: how can we make our work more useful to
activists and organizers? 432
Steve Chase
Index
1 How can we research social movements? An introduction 1
Alberto Arribas Lozano, Anna Szolucha, Sutapa Chattopadhyay and
Laurence Cox
PART I APPROACHES TO RESEARCHING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
2 Researching global movements: practices, dialogues and ethics 24
Geoffrey Pleyers
3 Feminist methodologies in social movement studies: gender,
positionality and research in practice 36
Özge Yaka and Sevil Çakır Kılınçoğlu
4 Research from, with and for indigenous social movements 50
Xochitl Leyva Solano and Axel Köhler
5 Social movements as learning communities, researchers and knowledge
producers 63
Alberto Arribas Lozano
6 A Marxist approach to researching social movements 77
John Krinsky
7 Researching social movements in authoritarian states: preparing and
conducting fieldwork in Iran and Turkey 91
Paola Rivetti
8 Cross-sectoral dialogues with social movements in Southeast Asia:
translating values, affects, and practices in a polymorphic region 102
Gabriel Facal, Catherine Scheer, Sarah Anaïs Andrieu, Joel Mark
Baysa-Barredo, Giuseppe Bolotta, Gloria Truly Estrelita, Rosalia Sciortino,
Saskia Wieringa, and Wijayanto
9 Methodological pluralism in social movement studies: why and how 115
Donatella della Porta
PART II DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS IN SOCIAL
MOVEMENT RESEARCH
10 Learning within freedom movements: using critical oral history methodology 128
Geri Augusto, Danita Mason-Hogans, and Wesley Hogan
11 Doing digital ethnography: a comparison of two social movement studies 144
John Postill
12 Media and communication activism: doing ethnography with ultra-right
and progressive social movements 159
Cinzia Padovani
13 Visual research with Mayan social movements in Guatemala: a critical
approach 168
Carlos Y. Flores
14 Back and forth: militant ethnography in the ‘crowded fields’ 182
Magdalena Sztandara
15 Making sense of the Narmada movements through Adivasi narratives 197
Sutapa Chattopadhyay
16 The art of talks and conversations in Indigenous research: decolonising
interview methods 214
Keneilwe Phatshwane
17 Researching social movement participation in the Global South: what to
do after discovering and recording plural and ambiguous narratives in
the field? 230
Minati Dash
18 Using surveys to study demonstrators 243
Emily Rainsford and Clare Saunders
19 Analysing protest events: a quantitative and systematic approach 257
Tiago Carvalho
20 How do grievances become manifestos? Developing frame analysis in
social movement research 271
Aurora Perego and Stefania Vicari
21 Researching identity and culture in place-based struggles 290
Ayse Sargin
22 Researching ideologies and social movements: why and how? 306
Susann Pham
23 ‘Repertoires of contention’: examining concept, method, context and practice 321
Arnab Roy Chowdhury
24 Searching for mechanisms of social movement success: research on
political and cultural underpinnings of protestors’ impact 336
David W. Everson and Robert M. Fishman
25 Historical approaches to researching social movements 349
Stefan Berger
PART III APPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL MOVEMENT RESEARCH
26 A story of three activists: the value of activist action research in social
movement learning 365
Jane Burt, Tokelo Mahlakoane, Eustine Matsepane and Mmathapelo
Thobejane
27 Community-based research: approaches, principles and challenges 377
Anna Szolucha
28 Participatory research as activism: Orlando Fals Borda and the Latin
American tradition of engaged research 387
Joanne Rappaport
29 Participatory action research in social movements 399
Laurence Cox
30 Using research in movement strategy 409
Natasha Adams
31 Research methods for studying collective action outcomes 420
Katrin Uba
32 Civil resistance research: how can we make our work more useful to
activists and organizers? 432
Steve Chase
Index
