Frank J. Lechner
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195188356
- eISBN:
- 9780199785247
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195188356.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Religious responses to globalization seem to contribute little to the overall globalization critique put forth in venues such as the World Social Forum. This essay suggests that in the struggle about ...
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Religious responses to globalization seem to contribute little to the overall globalization critique put forth in venues such as the World Social Forum. This essay suggests that in the struggle about globalization, religious actors are more important and religious voices more articulate than many have realized. Empirically, this analysis yields a more detailed picture of the directions that “religious rejections of globalization” take. Analytically, it sheds light on the relative significance of religion in the formation of global civil society or at least one sector thereof.Less
Religious responses to globalization seem to contribute little to the overall globalization critique put forth in venues such as the World Social Forum. This essay suggests that in the struggle about globalization, religious actors are more important and religious voices more articulate than many have realized. Empirically, this analysis yields a more detailed picture of the directions that “religious rejections of globalization” take. Analytically, it sheds light on the relative significance of religion in the formation of global civil society or at least one sector thereof.
Gavin W. Anderson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199606078
- eISBN:
- 9780191729720
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199606078.003.0017
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This chapter seeks to rescue human rights by developing an alternative epistemology of human rights associated with the phenomenon of ‘globalization from below’. This relates to the emergence of ...
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This chapter seeks to rescue human rights by developing an alternative epistemology of human rights associated with the phenomenon of ‘globalization from below’. This relates to the emergence of transnational networks of social movements, NGOs, and umbrella groupings such as the World Social Forum, which call into question the neoliberal paradigm and its version of human rights. A transformed rights discourse would be rooted in the politics of the global South which rejects the human rights used in the justification of colonialism and the dominance of international corporations. Rather, the emphasis is on public health over property rights and on the differences rather than universal features of human cultures. An example is the globalization of Western economic and social rights which privilege developed countries in international markets. If the Western dominant epistemology of human nature underlying the modern human rights movement is challenged, this gives us further reasons to be sceptical about current top-down methods of institutionalizing human rights.Less
This chapter seeks to rescue human rights by developing an alternative epistemology of human rights associated with the phenomenon of ‘globalization from below’. This relates to the emergence of transnational networks of social movements, NGOs, and umbrella groupings such as the World Social Forum, which call into question the neoliberal paradigm and its version of human rights. A transformed rights discourse would be rooted in the politics of the global South which rejects the human rights used in the justification of colonialism and the dominance of international corporations. Rather, the emphasis is on public health over property rights and on the differences rather than universal features of human cultures. An example is the globalization of Western economic and social rights which privilege developed countries in international markets. If the Western dominant epistemology of human nature underlying the modern human rights movement is challenged, this gives us further reasons to be sceptical about current top-down methods of institutionalizing human rights.
Karen Throsby
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780719099625
- eISBN:
- 9781526114976
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719099625.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This book is about the extreme sport of marathon swimming. It provides insight into a social world about which very little is known, while simultaneously exploring the ways in which the social world ...
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This book is about the extreme sport of marathon swimming. It provides insight into a social world about which very little is known, while simultaneously exploring the ways in which the social world of marathon swimming intersects and overlaps with other social worlds and configurations of power and identity. Drawing on extensive (auto) ethnographic data, Immersion explores the embodied and social processes of becoming a marathon swimming and investigates how social belonging is produced and policed. Using marathon swimming as a lens, this foundation provides a basis for an exploration of what constitutes the ‘good’ body in contemporary society across a range of sites including charitable swimming, fatness, gender and health. The book argues that the dominant representations of marathon swimming are at odds with its lived realities, and that this reflects the entrenched and limited discursive resources available for thinking about the sporting body in the wider social and cultural context. It argues that in spite of these constraints, novel modes of embodiment and pleasure seep out between the cracks of those entrenched understandings and representations, highlighting the inability of the dominant understandings of sporting embodiment to account for experiences of immersion. This in turn opens up spaces for resistance and alternative accounts of embodiment and identity both within and outside of marathon swimming.Less
This book is about the extreme sport of marathon swimming. It provides insight into a social world about which very little is known, while simultaneously exploring the ways in which the social world of marathon swimming intersects and overlaps with other social worlds and configurations of power and identity. Drawing on extensive (auto) ethnographic data, Immersion explores the embodied and social processes of becoming a marathon swimming and investigates how social belonging is produced and policed. Using marathon swimming as a lens, this foundation provides a basis for an exploration of what constitutes the ‘good’ body in contemporary society across a range of sites including charitable swimming, fatness, gender and health. The book argues that the dominant representations of marathon swimming are at odds with its lived realities, and that this reflects the entrenched and limited discursive resources available for thinking about the sporting body in the wider social and cultural context. It argues that in spite of these constraints, novel modes of embodiment and pleasure seep out between the cracks of those entrenched understandings and representations, highlighting the inability of the dominant understandings of sporting embodiment to account for experiences of immersion. This in turn opens up spaces for resistance and alternative accounts of embodiment and identity both within and outside of marathon swimming.
Paul Routledge and Andrew Cumbers
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719076855
- eISBN:
- 9781781702307
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719076855.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This chapter presents an analysis and interpretation of the World Social Forum (WSF) process. By its nature, its subject matter is broader and more discursive than the more specific case studies, but ...
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This chapter presents an analysis and interpretation of the World Social Forum (WSF) process. By its nature, its subject matter is broader and more discursive than the more specific case studies, but it also deals with the fundamental issues of solidarity, democracy, and grassroots engagement. More than any other development, the WSF process has come to embody the new democratic and participatory ideals of the broader international resistance against neoliberalism with its aspiration to provide an open and enabling space for debate about alternatives to neoliberalism.Less
This chapter presents an analysis and interpretation of the World Social Forum (WSF) process. By its nature, its subject matter is broader and more discursive than the more specific case studies, but it also deals with the fundamental issues of solidarity, democracy, and grassroots engagement. More than any other development, the WSF process has come to embody the new democratic and participatory ideals of the broader international resistance against neoliberalism with its aspiration to provide an open and enabling space for debate about alternatives to neoliberalism.
Eva-Maria Hardtmann
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199466276
- eISBN:
- 9780199087518
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466276.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
Chapter 5 provides ethnography from the World Social Forums in Mumbai, India (2004), Nairobi, Kenya (2007), and from Belèm, Brazil (2009), and the involvement of Dalit activists in these large ...
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Chapter 5 provides ethnography from the World Social Forums in Mumbai, India (2004), Nairobi, Kenya (2007), and from Belèm, Brazil (2009), and the involvement of Dalit activists in these large events. The World Social Forum has been held only once in Asia, but regional social forums have been organized in South Asia, and in 2011 a South Asia Social Forum was arranged in Dhaka, Bangladesh. During this forum it became clear that not only two contradictory worldviews were present at the forum, but also that South Asia was marginalized in the GJM and the World Social Forum process. The World Social Forum’s International Council meeting was held in connection with, and just following this regional forum in Dhaka in 2011. The World Social Forum International Council has been a controversial body, and the chapter discusses some of the debates from the meeting in Dhaka.Less
Chapter 5 provides ethnography from the World Social Forums in Mumbai, India (2004), Nairobi, Kenya (2007), and from Belèm, Brazil (2009), and the involvement of Dalit activists in these large events. The World Social Forum has been held only once in Asia, but regional social forums have been organized in South Asia, and in 2011 a South Asia Social Forum was arranged in Dhaka, Bangladesh. During this forum it became clear that not only two contradictory worldviews were present at the forum, but also that South Asia was marginalized in the GJM and the World Social Forum process. The World Social Forum’s International Council meeting was held in connection with, and just following this regional forum in Dhaka in 2011. The World Social Forum International Council has been a controversial body, and the chapter discusses some of the debates from the meeting in Dhaka.
Eva-Maria Hardtmann
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199466276
- eISBN:
- 9780199087518
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466276.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
This work is a well-researched study of the last few decades of the networks in the Global Justice Movement (GJM) and World Social Forums. It offers a more novel perspective on the traditions of ...
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This work is a well-researched study of the last few decades of the networks in the Global Justice Movement (GJM) and World Social Forums. It offers a more novel perspective on the traditions of protest, ethics, organizational forms, and visions among activists than is usually presented in the literature on GJM, which largely focuses on Latin America, the United States of America, and Europe. It is an ethnographically rooted account of the two conflicting discourses—one among activists in GJM and the other emanating from the World Bank—that have become intertwined locally within the same circle of activists. The author argues that local and transnational activist networks, no longer spatially and territorially limited, have become entangled with forces understood under the paradigms of ‘neoliberalism’, and relations among activists have changed in unexpected ways. Through a vivid description of transnational movements, this book aims to make evident the not-so-obvious yet intricate links between the World Bank, the United Nations, popular rock stars, and historical knowledge production among activists in South Asia and Japan in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.Less
This work is a well-researched study of the last few decades of the networks in the Global Justice Movement (GJM) and World Social Forums. It offers a more novel perspective on the traditions of protest, ethics, organizational forms, and visions among activists than is usually presented in the literature on GJM, which largely focuses on Latin America, the United States of America, and Europe. It is an ethnographically rooted account of the two conflicting discourses—one among activists in GJM and the other emanating from the World Bank—that have become intertwined locally within the same circle of activists. The author argues that local and transnational activist networks, no longer spatially and territorially limited, have become entangled with forces understood under the paradigms of ‘neoliberalism’, and relations among activists have changed in unexpected ways. Through a vivid description of transnational movements, this book aims to make evident the not-so-obvious yet intricate links between the World Bank, the United Nations, popular rock stars, and historical knowledge production among activists in South Asia and Japan in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Juan Tiney
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813033327
- eISBN:
- 9780813038391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813033327.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
This chapter discusses the content of the fourth congress of the Latin American Coordinator of Rural Organizations (CLOC). It reviews the decade-long process of building the organization and the ...
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This chapter discusses the content of the fourth congress of the Latin American Coordinator of Rural Organizations (CLOC). It reviews the decade-long process of building the organization and the struggle led by the CLOC during these years. An analysis of the strategies of the neoliberal capitalist system is provided, in order to define and coordinate lines of action and resistance. The information presented in this chapter is based on the resolutions of the fourth congress of CLOC, as well as the internal and public debates that were held in Caracas, Venezuela, in March 2006 within the framework of the World Social Forum.Less
This chapter discusses the content of the fourth congress of the Latin American Coordinator of Rural Organizations (CLOC). It reviews the decade-long process of building the organization and the struggle led by the CLOC during these years. An analysis of the strategies of the neoliberal capitalist system is provided, in order to define and coordinate lines of action and resistance. The information presented in this chapter is based on the resolutions of the fourth congress of CLOC, as well as the internal and public debates that were held in Caracas, Venezuela, in March 2006 within the framework of the World Social Forum.
Eva-Maria Hardtmann
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199466276
- eISBN:
- 9780199087518
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466276.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
Chapter 2 describes the background of the GJM and the World Social Forum process. A brief overview is given of the organizational aspects and how the concept of network has been used in social ...
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Chapter 2 describes the background of the GJM and the World Social Forum process. A brief overview is given of the organizational aspects and how the concept of network has been used in social movement studies to situate this study in relation to scholars writing on the GJM and the Occupy Movement. Criticism from the outside against the GJM is explored, but also coming from inside the movement. Ethical similarities and organizational differences between the GJM and the Occupy Movement are outlined and explore how activists in these two movements belong within the same broader discourse, focussing on a global economic élite. The chapter ends by relating activists in South Asia and Japan to the GJM and the Occupy Movement and demonstrates how activists in these regions have been marginalized in the movements and largely ignored in the scholarly writings.Less
Chapter 2 describes the background of the GJM and the World Social Forum process. A brief overview is given of the organizational aspects and how the concept of network has been used in social movement studies to situate this study in relation to scholars writing on the GJM and the Occupy Movement. Criticism from the outside against the GJM is explored, but also coming from inside the movement. Ethical similarities and organizational differences between the GJM and the Occupy Movement are outlined and explore how activists in these two movements belong within the same broader discourse, focussing on a global economic élite. The chapter ends by relating activists in South Asia and Japan to the GJM and the Occupy Movement and demonstrates how activists in these regions have been marginalized in the movements and largely ignored in the scholarly writings.
Dave Beck and Rod Purcell
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781847429773
- eISBN:
- 9781447310884
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847429773.003.0010
- Subject:
- Social Work, Communities and Organizations
This chapter explores the strengths and limitations of community organising. It goes on to discuss how a consideration of hegemony, and Gramsci's proposal for developing organic intellectuals and ...
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This chapter explores the strengths and limitations of community organising. It goes on to discuss how a consideration of hegemony, and Gramsci's proposal for developing organic intellectuals and building counter hegemony could help develop the effectiveness of community organising. This discussion is developed in the context of the World Social Forum. The second part of the chapter discusses the possible integration of the ideas of Paulo Freire around building his critical consciousness approach into community organising.Less
This chapter explores the strengths and limitations of community organising. It goes on to discuss how a consideration of hegemony, and Gramsci's proposal for developing organic intellectuals and building counter hegemony could help develop the effectiveness of community organising. This discussion is developed in the context of the World Social Forum. The second part of the chapter discusses the possible integration of the ideas of Paulo Freire around building his critical consciousness approach into community organising.
Sarah S. Stroup and Wendy H. Wong
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781501702143
- eISBN:
- 9781501709777
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501702143.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Not all INGOs are alike, and they do not always play nicely. In fact, INGOs enjoy a diverse array of relationships with other INGOs. INGOs compete to offer specific visions of good practice for the ...
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Not all INGOs are alike, and they do not always play nicely. In fact, INGOs enjoy a diverse array of relationships with other INGOs. INGOs compete to offer specific visions of good practice for the entire INGO sector, and those visions depend on the INGO’s authority. We explore two such initiatives, both formed in 2001, the Accountability Charter (AC) and the World Social Forum (WSF). Each initiative is a mix of collaboration and condemnation, and while the AC is decidedly vanilla, neither has been particularly victorious in altering the ways the vast population of INGOs acts.Less
Not all INGOs are alike, and they do not always play nicely. In fact, INGOs enjoy a diverse array of relationships with other INGOs. INGOs compete to offer specific visions of good practice for the entire INGO sector, and those visions depend on the INGO’s authority. We explore two such initiatives, both formed in 2001, the Accountability Charter (AC) and the World Social Forum (WSF). Each initiative is a mix of collaboration and condemnation, and while the AC is decidedly vanilla, neither has been particularly victorious in altering the ways the vast population of INGOs acts.
Gerda Roelvink
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780816676170
- eISBN:
- 9781452954240
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816676170.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change
An awareness of the different forces of performance is vital to how one thinks about difference and the creation of something new. Current understandings of social transformation often see ...
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An awareness of the different forces of performance is vital to how one thinks about difference and the creation of something new. Current understandings of social transformation often see performative action as something created through discursive reiteration. Yet non-linguistic experiences, such as emotions, the movement of bodies and connection with others, might also generate new visions and forms of being together (Massumi 2002a). Chapter 3 takes up this line of inquiry by examining the World Social Forum.Less
An awareness of the different forces of performance is vital to how one thinks about difference and the creation of something new. Current understandings of social transformation often see performative action as something created through discursive reiteration. Yet non-linguistic experiences, such as emotions, the movement of bodies and connection with others, might also generate new visions and forms of being together (Massumi 2002a). Chapter 3 takes up this line of inquiry by examining the World Social Forum.
Eva-Maria Hardtmann
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199466276
- eISBN:
- 9780199087518
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466276.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Movements and Social Change, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
Chapter 6 discusses theories about transnational feminism in South Asia generally, but more specifically it gives an overview of the history of Dalit feminism in India. The central importance of the ...
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Chapter 6 discusses theories about transnational feminism in South Asia generally, but more specifically it gives an overview of the history of Dalit feminism in India. The central importance of the Mumbai World Social Forum in 2004 is dealt with at length to highlight how Dalit feminists put feminism more generally at the core of the World Social Forum process. This is the chapter where the main ethnography about the local day-to-day work in between World Social Forums among activists and (I)NGO workers is to be found. It takes as its focal point the broader transnational network International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and presents three local ethnographies from within this network: first, ethnography from the Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO) in Kathmandu, Nepal; second, from the office of IMADR–Asia Committee, in Colombo, Sri Lanka; and third, from among Burakumin networks in Osaka, Japan.Less
Chapter 6 discusses theories about transnational feminism in South Asia generally, but more specifically it gives an overview of the history of Dalit feminism in India. The central importance of the Mumbai World Social Forum in 2004 is dealt with at length to highlight how Dalit feminists put feminism more generally at the core of the World Social Forum process. This is the chapter where the main ethnography about the local day-to-day work in between World Social Forums among activists and (I)NGO workers is to be found. It takes as its focal point the broader transnational network International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and presents three local ethnographies from within this network: first, ethnography from the Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO) in Kathmandu, Nepal; second, from the office of IMADR–Asia Committee, in Colombo, Sri Lanka; and third, from among Burakumin networks in Osaka, Japan.
Karen Throsby
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780719099625
- eISBN:
- 9781526114976
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719099625.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter explores the embodied work of becoming a marathon swimmer, focusing on two iteratively related transformational processes: the acquisition of techniques of the body and the accompanying ...
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This chapter explores the embodied work of becoming a marathon swimmer, focusing on two iteratively related transformational processes: the acquisition of techniques of the body and the accompanying sensory transformations. The chapter argues that the marathon swimming identity is made not given, that the process of becoming is iterative and that social belonging within marathon swimming is the product not only of the specific techniques of marathon swimming but also adherence to local and social world values and practices.Less
This chapter explores the embodied work of becoming a marathon swimmer, focusing on two iteratively related transformational processes: the acquisition of techniques of the body and the accompanying sensory transformations. The chapter argues that the marathon swimming identity is made not given, that the process of becoming is iterative and that social belonging within marathon swimming is the product not only of the specific techniques of marathon swimming but also adherence to local and social world values and practices.
Greta Fowler Snyder
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781784993337
- eISBN:
- 9781526109927
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784993337.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Far from being necessarily divisive, recognition is integral to the construction of effective global movements against injustice. I highlight three different sites at which the politics of ...
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Far from being necessarily divisive, recognition is integral to the construction of effective global movements against injustice. I highlight three different sites at which the politics of recognition has important roles to play: within progressive movements, between progressive movements and by progressive movements on the ‘global stage’. At these different sites, I argue, recognition politics serves both integrative and performative functions. By identifying the sites at which recognition can contribute to global struggles and explaining the functions recognition serves, I add to our understanding of ‘regimes of recognition’, offer a new perspective on the nature of and prerequisites for the recognition encounter, and illuminate the importance as well as the limitations of political institutions like the World Social Forum and campaigns like the anti-War protests of 2003.Less
Far from being necessarily divisive, recognition is integral to the construction of effective global movements against injustice. I highlight three different sites at which the politics of recognition has important roles to play: within progressive movements, between progressive movements and by progressive movements on the ‘global stage’. At these different sites, I argue, recognition politics serves both integrative and performative functions. By identifying the sites at which recognition can contribute to global struggles and explaining the functions recognition serves, I add to our understanding of ‘regimes of recognition’, offer a new perspective on the nature of and prerequisites for the recognition encounter, and illuminate the importance as well as the limitations of political institutions like the World Social Forum and campaigns like the anti-War protests of 2003.
