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Ethnicity by Fiat: The Remaking of Indian Life in South Africa

Thomas Blom Hansen

in Melancholia of Freedom: Social Life in an Indian Township in South Africa

This chapter narrates the story of how the Asiatic question was configured in South Africa from the 1860s to the present as a question of necessary containment of culturally alien people. It ... More

This chapter narrates the story of how the Asiatic question was configured in South Africa from the 1860s to the present as a question of necessary containment of culturally alien people. It describes how the township of Chatsworth was set up, imagined, and framed as a purely Indian space over decades of tense and often antagonistic tussle between policy makers and social activists. The chapter also looks at how specific methods of policing contributed to the current mythology of the Indian township during apartheid as fundamentally safe, as a place where “we never locked our doors.” It draws on official documents, newspapers, and governmental publications, as well as a range of narratives by older residents of Chatsworth.Less

People’s Global Action (Asia): peasant solidarity as horizontal networking?

Paul Routledge and Andrew Cumbers

in Global Justice Networks: Geographies of Transnational Solidarity

This chapter considers People's Global Action (Asia), a recently established, non-hierarchical global network of diverse Asian grassroots social movements and activists, committed to decentralisation ... More

This chapter considers People's Global Action (Asia), a recently established, non-hierarchical global network of diverse Asian grassroots social movements and activists, committed to decentralisation and political initiatives outside the realm of formal state politics. Its main function is to oppose the destructive consequences of neoliberal policies and to develop concrete alternatives.Less

The Mysticism and Social Action of César Chávez

Stephen R. Lloyd-Moffett

in Latino Religions and Civic Activism in the United States

César Chávez could be said to be the most famous Latino figure in US history. He indirectly stepped into the gap left by the Mission Band and other civil rights advocacy groups silenced by Cold War ... More

César Chávez could be said to be the most famous Latino figure in US history. He indirectly stepped into the gap left by the Mission Band and other civil rights advocacy groups silenced by Cold War patriotism and the growing conflict in Vietnam. Like Father Martínez in New Mexico, Chávez drew inner strength and resolve from his Catholic faith and its popular traditions, symbols, and rhetoric. This chapter shows that Chávez was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and the civil rights movement. His fasts and pilgrimage from Delano to Sacramento were shaped by his reported deep mystical experiences with God. This chapter argues that we do not hear more about the spiritual dimension of Chávez's activism because the liberal intelligentsia have deliberately secularized his image to suit their own political and ideological goals.Less

Clubs, Credence Standards, and Social Pressure

David P. Baron

in Voluntary Programs: A Club Theory Perspective

This chapter is a presentation of a theory of industry collective action despite the arousal of change in practice and policies created by social pressure from “private politics,” which is often used ... More

This chapter is a presentation of a theory of industry collective action despite the arousal of change in practice and policies created by social pressure from “private politics,” which is often used to attempt a change in the behaviour of economic agents. More often than not, nongovernmental organizations and social activists are these agents. The chapter focuses on how these clubs, or voluntary organizations, were formed, their choice of a standard for their products, and how that choice is affected by social pressure. Here we see certain models and examples of which firms would be inclined to join an industry-sponsored club and which would not. The chapter formulates a complex model of industry behaviour and a model of social pressure by combining two particular models. In conclusion, it discusses a number of aspects of the collective choice of credence standards and why they require additional research.Less

International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW)

Denys Correll

in Handbook of International Social Work: Human Rights, Development, and the Global Profession

This chapter attempt to capture the evolution of ICSW as a global nongovernmental organization. The history of the ICSW is characterized by legions of committed social activists who have worked for ... More

This chapter attempt to capture the evolution of ICSW as a global nongovernmental organization. The history of the ICSW is characterized by legions of committed social activists who have worked for the improvement of global society. At times the leadership was truly inspired, as was the case at the World Summit for Social Development in 1995. At other times, the ICSW has been characterized by dogged resistance to the impending demise of the organization. Despite moving to the brink of extinction on occasion, the ICSW has showed the resilience of its leadership and members. Throughout its history, the ICSW has sought to improve the lives of those living in poverty. It has been innovative in its approach to social development. The support of national councils and the prophetic realization that regional development will be a dominating force in the 21st century are just two examples of the ICSW's global leadership in social development.Less

The Challenges and Consequences of being Latina, Catholic, and Political

Lara Medina

in Latino Religions and Civic Activism in the United States

This chapter examines María Antonietta Berriozábal, native of San Antonio, Texas; Rosa Martha Zárate, of San Bernardino, California; and Tess Browne, of Boston, Massachusetts—all three see themselves ... More

This chapter examines María Antonietta Berriozábal, native of San Antonio, Texas; Rosa Martha Zárate, of San Bernardino, California; and Tess Browne, of Boston, Massachusetts—all three see themselves as catalysts of change in their communities. Their involvement with Las Hermanas, a thirty-four-year-old national religious-political feminist organization of Chicana/Latina Catholics, influenced their profound commitment to community, justice, and faith. This chapter provides a brief overview of the sociohistorical context from which Las Hermanas emerged; then presents snapshot profiles of Zárate, Browne, and Berriozábal. These brief descriptions of their extensive work provide windows into the effect that Las Hermanas has had on Latina Catholic political activism. It is argued that the autonomous space created by Las Hermanas and its integration of spirituality and social activism influenced and strengthened these women in their involvement in civic affairs. No other Latina Catholic organization exists that serves this purpose.Less

Taking Sides: Diverse Public Reactions

Lynn S. Chancer

in High-Profile Crimes: When Legal Cases Become Social Causes

This chapter examines the reactions of community participants, social movement activists, and other members of the public at large to high profile cases in the U.S. The analysis reveals that while ... More

This chapter examines the reactions of community participants, social movement activists, and other members of the public at large to high profile cases in the U.S. The analysis reveals that while some members of the public are apt to express dissatisfaction with the frameworks within which provoking assaults are debated, it was more common for people to take this framework for granted and improvise reactions in and around it. This chapter summarizes the types of actions myriad audiences express, including official protest and conversation.Less

Introduction

in New York Undercover: Private Surveillance in the Progressive Era

This book examines a complex process in which undercover investigators, employed by private social reform organizations, interacted with African Americans, immigrants, and the working class in New ... More

This book examines a complex process in which undercover investigators, employed by private social reform organizations, interacted with African Americans, immigrants, and the working class in New York to collect data on (and then control) their behavior. These investigators reported a wide range of what they perceived to be social ills — from prostitution and gambling to juvenile delinquency, race mixing, and radical political movements — back to their employers. Five such employers were New York City's most influential private organizations of social activists during the Progressive Era: the Committee of Fifteen, the Committee of Fourteen, the Colored Auxiliary of the Committee of Fourteen, the People's Institute, and the National Civic Federation. Between 1897 and 1920, these organizations, enforcing their own moral codes, resorted to undercover investigation to reduce criminality, immorality, and graft in the city. Their pioneering use of undercover investigation allowed them to intervene and attempt to reconstruct social conditions in New York City and beyond. The investigative methods developed by these private organizations were eventually appropriated by federal, state, and municipal agencies in the United States.Less

César Chávez and Mexican American Civil Religion

LuíS D. León

in Latino Religions and Civic Activism in the United States

This chapter suggests that César Chávez quite intentionally manipulated, invented, and recast religious symbols to further his political and social aims. This is not to say that Chávez took a ... More

This chapter suggests that César Chávez quite intentionally manipulated, invented, and recast religious symbols to further his political and social aims. This is not to say that Chávez took a utilitarian view of religion. To the contrary, he was a deeply spiritual person whose long fasts, prayer vigils, and pilgrimages were as sincere as they were powerful. However, his religious identity was much more complex and riddled with more ambiguity than most realize. In many respects, Chávez functioned like a Weberian prophet who was able to “infuse” an ostensibly secular political struggle with ultimate value and sacred meaning.Less

A New Generation of Post-Reconstruction Leaders

Susan D. Carle

in Defining the Struggle: National Racial Justice Organizing, 1880-1915

This chapter examines the backgrounds and early adult experiences of five key leaders of the national organizations the book considers. These leaders are T. Thomas Fortune, founder of the National ... More

This chapter examines the backgrounds and early adult experiences of five key leaders of the national organizations the book considers. These leaders are T. Thomas Fortune, founder of the National Afro-American League; Reverdy C. Ransom, the earliest outspoken radical within the National Afro-American Council; Mary Church Terrell, founding leader of the National Association of Colored Women; Mary White Ovington, member of the NAACP's inner circle of founders; and William Lewis Bulkley, a founder and early board member of the National Urban League. The chapter explores the similarities and differences of these leaders' backgrounds as well as the early development of their activist ideas and commitments.Less

A Genealogy of Undercover Investigation

in New York Undercover: Private Surveillance in the Progressive Era

Undercover investigation in the United States was not an invention of Progressive social activists. Rather, it was a product of existing techniques that the activists adapted to their unique goals ... More

Undercover investigation in the United States was not an invention of Progressive social activists. Rather, it was a product of existing techniques that the activists adapted to their unique goals and needs. Undercover investigation dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, when private detective agencies were formed to fill (and profit from) the void in the system of public policing. The first private detective agency in the country was the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, founded in 1850 by Allan Pinkerton, who relied on “shadows” — agents who followed suspects and gathered evidence. In New York City, private social reform organizations — including the Committee of Fifteen, the Committee of Fourteen, the People's Institute, and the National Civic Federation — relied on undercover investigators who gathered information which they used to confirm their perceptions or define new forms of social danger, such as the sexual and political behavior of immigrants and African Americans. Undercover investigation played a major role in the development of increasingly sophisticated and far-reaching federal power in the early twentieth century.Less

European Progressives and the Bolivarian Social Agenda

Julia Buxton

in Venezuela's Petro-Diplomacy: Hugo Chavez's Foreign Policy

This chapter focuses on the “progressive” European perspectives of Hugo Chávez and his Bolivarian revolution. It studies the two stages of progressive alignment with the Bolivarian process, the first ... More

This chapter focuses on the “progressive” European perspectives of Hugo Chávez and his Bolivarian revolution. It studies the two stages of progressive alignment with the Bolivarian process, the first commencing with the failed coup attempt of April 2002, and the second dating roughly from the recall referendum of 2004. Venezuela exemplifies an interesting experiment in constructing an alternative to the current global status quo. Setbacks for the Venezuelan government, such as the defeat of the constitutional reform process in December 2007, are respected on the basis that they represent the voice of the Venezuelan people. The chapter also explores whether identification with the chavista phenomenon is a result of ignorance by distance or something more positive and aims to outline the drivers of Chávez's popularity among left-of-center and social-activist groups in Europe.Less

The Dispute between the “Radicals” and the “Accommodationists” within the Afro-American Council: Reverdy Ransom and Booker T. Washington’s Contrasting Visions of Racial Justice, 1895–1902

Susan D. Carle

in Defining the Struggle: National Racial Justice Organizing, 1880-1915

The disputes that took place within the National Afro-American Council exposed deep ideological fissures among the organization's central figures. These fault lines are examined by contrasting the ... More

The disputes that took place within the National Afro-American Council exposed deep ideological fissures among the organization's central figures. These fault lines are examined by contrasting the perspectives of Booker T. Washington, whose public persona emphasized accommodating white prejudice while working on economic advancement, with those of Reverdy C. Ransom, a social gospel minister of the African Methodist Episcopal church who was the earliest outspoken leader opposing Washington within the Afro-American Council. The chapter argues that the underlying rift between the accommodationist and the radical factions of the Afro-American Council was at bottom based on different underlying economic, rather than civil rights, views.Less

Public Raids, Undercover Investigators, and Native Informants

in New York Undercover: Private Surveillance in the Progressive Era

In the early part of the twentieth century, New York City's foremost businessmen and clergymen were alarmed by the rising disorder in the metropolis. Business, good-government, and social activist ... More

In the early part of the twentieth century, New York City's foremost businessmen and clergymen were alarmed by the rising disorder in the metropolis. Business, good-government, and social activist groups were particularly concerned with the “flagrant offenses against public morality and common decency” that thrived in “certain districts.” Although the city's social activists had grappled with the problems of poverty and morality for decades, they realized that these old problems required new strategies. In November 1900, the Committee of Fifteen was founded, initially conducting public raids to realize its vision of a “morally clean” New York. When the public and even its own members raised a howl against the use of such tactics, the Committee of Fifteen turned to undercover investigators and “native informants” from the tenement districts to continue gathering the information that permitted it to impose its agenda on New York City. In 1902, the Committee of Fifteen was disbanded, following the sudden and unexpected death of its chairman, William H. Baldwin, Jr.Less

Epilogue

in New York Undercover: Private Surveillance in the Progressive Era

In New York City, the excesses of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries led to a decline in public confidence in private detective agencies and municipal police departments. Social ... More

In New York City, the excesses of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries led to a decline in public confidence in private detective agencies and municipal police departments. Social activist organizations were forced to reject professional detectives and instead relied on undercover investigators, a mode of investigative social activism that reached its apotheosis during the war years. Private organizations such as the Committee of Fourteen and the People's Institute, teamed up with government agencies on a variety of projects, from policing moral conditions around military encampments, to monitoring domestic political subversion, and assisting immigrants in their transition to their new country. After World War I, however, social activists largely lost their power to define the direction of subsequent policing and measures of social change. The federal government formalized and professionalized policies and procedures in other sectors such as the intelligence agencies. With the rise of a stronger Federal Bureau of Investigation, the prestige and power of social activists slipped dramatically.Less