Movements For Social Change Research Articles

Community Development in Chicago: From Harold Washington to Richard M. Daley

This article examines the transformation of community development in Chicago in the last three decades from a predominately grass roots movement for social change to a much smaller and fragmented one led by professionalized groups. It focuses on Harold Washington’s and Richard M. Daley’s mayoral regimes and the ways they helped to shape the context and implementation of community development. The major theme in the article is that this movement lost most of its capacity to be innovative and to contribute to progressivism (most evident under the Washington administration) when it lost its basic connections to grass roots leadership under the subsequent Daley administration. As a consequence, problems like poverty, homelessness, poor schooling, and greater racial and class divisions have resulted. The discussion and analysis is based on interviews of people involved with both regimes and a review of changes in policies and practices between the Washington and current Daley (Daley II) period. The article concludes with a sober overview of how community development has been absconded to serve the interests of progrowth and corporate interests rather than used as a tool to promote fairness, access, and equity in low-income neighborhoods.

Buwumu: Redefining Black Beauty and Emancipating the Hottentot Venus in the Work of Oforiwaa Aduonum

Black women have been doubly objectified as black, as women; under white supremacy, under patriarchy. It has been the task of black women artists to transform this objectification: to become the subject commenting on the meaning of the object or to become the subject rejecting the object and revealing the real experience of being. (Cliff 142) It is essential that black women have a loud voice in the dialogue. Without the vibrant participation of black women, black people are assured of repeating the same failures that have historically crippled movements for social change. (Nelson 16)

A growth-centered approach to women's development in Grenada

This study examines how a growth-centred approach (Srinivasan, 1992) to development assisted a group of women in Grenada to build self and group confidence, and to increase literacy. The purpose of the study was to understand how this process could help other adult educators working within a similar context to assist women learners in developing and exercising their personal, social and literacy power. The initial design of the programme was based on the needs ascribed as a result of past experiences working with women's community groups in Grenada and informal perceptions communicated by local women working within the field of women, development and adult education. This article analyses a six-month participatory study that fostered women's growth as a political act of resisting negative labels and oppressive conditions. bell hooks' (1993) words served as the motivation for the research: ‘We cannot fully create effective movements for social change if individuals struggling for that change are not self-actualized or working towards that end’ (p. 4). A ‘growth-centered’ approach, as advanced by Srinivasan (1992), is shown to be a useful starting place for personal and social transformation within Grenadian women's lives and community groups.

Feminist Waves and Classical Music: Pedagogy, Performance, Research

WHEN JUDY TSOU ASKED ME TO PARTICIPATE in this session, I was excited but didn't know what I'd speak about. Not long after, a newsletter from the women's studies program at Rice came my way. It was titled A Special Issue Highlighting 'Young Feminism.' This grabbed my attention. The lead article was an interview with a member the English department, Prof. Krista Comer, called Surfing the Wave. I read on. She is to offer a new course entitled Third Wave Feminist Cultures. Focusing on third-wave feminist cultures the United States and Britain, it will embrace movements, literary representations, popular culture, and music, especially feminist punk. Third-wavers--born between 1965 and 1979, who came age starting in the late 1980s--grew up with popular culture specifically targeted to a mass youth audience.... They were raised on the new consumer culture the last two decades, and that fact has huge ramifications. And so what would be the second wave? The term second-wave applies to the feminism of the late 60s and 70s, a popular-front social change movement that made its way into universities, legal policy, government agencies, and female-advocacy programs. As Comer observes, institutions higher education the big agenda items concerned identifying the sites women's oppression, theorizing it, and theorizing interventions upon it. Second-wave feminism is clearly closely identified with women's studies programs and pedagogy today. Second-wave feminists tend to be perceived--often wrongly--to represent women as victims. Well, this was really interesting and, I have to admit, rather new--at least the term wave. Ideas began to roll around in my head, and I realized that they might open a door to theorizing various impressions I had about changes in students and their reactions to woman-centered issues and history. Perhaps the wave idea would also shed light on certain issues in mass culture and in music that I've been thinking about. Aha! I said, and so I told Judy I'd like to do something on third-wave feminism for the panel. In discussing third-wave feminism I'd like to offer observations from experiences in teaching, and in observing ordinary life. I've read helpful sources on third-wave feminism and spoken with Krista Comer. But I'd like to ground many my remarks in anecdotes and personal observations, and then make connections with the second and third waves. Let me state the obvious: by generation (but I think by much more), I'm a second-waver. Most my research in women and music dates from the 1970s and 1980s, and these were the years in which serious research on women composers and their music began. This was a time discovery, recuperation, and dissemination: identifying the who, what, when, and where, and doing editions and recordings forgotten works. (1) The recuperative work waned somewhat in the 1990s, as studies on women became more interpretive and more broad based culturally. The questions were now explored in greater detail. This accompanied major inroads from other disciplines, for example, narrative theory, anthropology, art history, psychology, and sociology. (2) To return to my position in terms the waves: although I am mostly a second-waver, I like to think that I am not purely a second-waver. As the essay reveals, the terms are sometimes problematic, and there may be multiple interpretations what they mean. So let's say I am more a second-waver than a third-waver. Despite the ambiguities, my age and formative research sensibilities place me in that category. The essay divides into two large sections. In part 1 I introduce the concepts second- and third-wave feminism and offer examples how they apply to pedagogy and performance. This combines personal observation and theoretical explanation. Part 2, new for this written version, discusses second- and third-wave feminism with respect to research. …

Brownsville, Brooklyn: Blacks, Jews, and the changing face of the ghetto

From its founding in the late 1800s through the 1950s, a section of eastern Brooklyn, was a white, predominantly Jewish, working-class neighbourhood. The famous New York district nurtured the aspirations of thousands of upwardly mobile Americans while the infamous gangsters of Murder, Incorporated controlled its streets. But during the 1960s, Brownsville was stigmatized as a black and Latino ghetto, a neighbourhood with one of the city's highest crime rates. Home to the largest concentration of public housing units in the city, Brownsville came to be viewed as emblematic of urban decline. And yet, at the same time, the neighbourhood still supported a wide variety of grass-roots movements for social change. The story of these two different, but in many ways similar, Brownsvilles is compellingly told in this new work. Focusing on the interaction of Brownsville residents with New York's political and institutional elites, Wendell Pritchett shows how the profound economic and social changes of post-World War II America affected the area. He covers a number of pivotal episodes in Brownsville's history as well: the rise and fall of interracial organizations, the struggles to deal with deteriorating housing, and the battles over local schools that culminated in the famous 1968 Teachers Strike. Far from just a cautionary tale of failed policies and institutional neglect, the story of Brownsville's transformation, he finds, is one of mutual struggle and frustrated cooperation among whites, blacks and Latinos. Ultimately, Brownsville, Brooklyn reminds us how working-class neighbourhoods have played, and continue to play, a central role in American history. It is a story that needs to be read by all those concerned with the many challenges facing America's cities today.

Millenarianism and Messianism in Early Modern European Culture Vols. 1–4. Edited by Matt Goldish, Richard H. Popkin, James E. Force, Karl A. Kottman, and John Christian Laursen. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001. 784p. $253.00.

All societies contain some image or vision of their own perfection—of life, both individual and collective, free of the burdens of history and death. In the history of civilizations, these visions have often served as a fulcrum of radical change and social transformation. Just as often, they have served as the ideological underpinnings of more abortive movements of social change. Moreover, in the lives of individuals and groups, they have often led to a renunciation of the world and its concerns in search of a more private wholeness, in a life of contemplation and retreat.

Introduction: Themed Section on Evidence-Based Policy as a concept for Modernising Governance and Social Science Research

The concept of evidence-based policy and practice has many origins but its relation to the growth of the social sciences is arguably the most important. The uses of the social sciences for both understanding and transforming social policies and political systems has come to be assumed – complex and problematic though these may be. The concept is also closely linked with the concepts of globalisation, technological developments, and the ‘knowledge economy’. Thus the notions of ‘evidence’ and social science research have often been elided with political movements for social and economic change. In other contexts, these notions have been contextualised, so that ‘evidence’ and research are not deemed to be the same. Indeed, it is possible to argue that the notion of legal ‘evidence’ illustrates just how ideological it can be, how it can be used to marshal particular arguments and sustain a specific case rather than present it in a dispassionate manner.

Pauli Murray's Notable Connections

Pauli Murray was involved in practically all the major developments that historians of the United States write about when they try to make sense of the twentieth century, especially the movements for social change that have been so central to its history. Civil rights, feminism, religion, literature, law, sexuality—no matter what the subject, there is Pauli Murray. Eight scholars—(Susan Ware, Patricia Bell-Scott, Glenda Gilmore, Rosalind Rosenberg, Susan Hartmann, Joyce Antler, Leila Rupp, and Verta Taylor)—tackle a different moment or theme in Murray's life. Each essay stands on its own, but when read collectively, they document Pauli Murray's central role in twentieth-century American women's history and are intended to spur future research.

Changing Hearts, Changing Minds

ABSTRACT This article is comprised of excerpts from an interview with Dee Mosbacher, MD, PhD, a psychiatric consultant and lesbian ac tivist who has expressed her visions of social change through documentary films. Dee describes the beginnings of her political activism in the social change and women's health movements of the 1960s and 1970s and her evolution as an activist filmmaker over the past two decades. She explores the process of fundraising, the importance of working collabor-atively, her experience balancing activism with her work as a psychiatrist, and the rewards of making films that have an impact on people's lives. She also discusses her visions for the future and provides recommendations for young lesbian activists.

Network Society

As a left-identified practitioner whose work has been, and continues to be, associated with the efforts of social change movements and activist groups, my own sense of individuality is often frustrated by the demands of group identification. This is a structuring tension within my artwork. I am constantly searching for a balance between my own sense of agency and my commitments to social change.

The Monsters We Create: Woman on the Edge of Time and Frankenstein

Discussions of Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) have tended to focus on the striking characteristics of the utopian future she portrays—appropriately enough, for Piercy has commented, “What I was doing was taking all my favorite ideas out of the various movements for social change that were around and attempting to give them as concrete a form as possible so it would seem real” (Gifford 15). The novel has also evoked frequent extended comparisons with other feminist utopian fiction of the 1970s. Critics have gained historical perspective on the novel by looking to the tradition of utopian writing, in particular Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland (1915).

Ecofeminist Literary Criticism: Theory, Interpretation, Pedagogy

Ecofeminist Literary Criticism is the first collection of its kind: a diverse anthology that explores both how ecofeminism can enrich literary criticism and how literary criticism can contribute to ecofeminist theory and activism. Ecofeminism is a practical movement for social change that discerns interconnections among all forms of oppression: the exploitation of nature, the oppression of women, class exploitation, racism, colonialism. Against binary divisions such as self/other, culture/nature, man/woman, humans/animals, and white/non-white, ecofeminist theory asserts that human identity is shaped by more fluid relationships and by an acknowledgment of both connection and difference. Once considered the province of philosophy and women's studies, ecofeminism in recent years has been incorporated into a broader spectrum of academic discourse. Ecofeminist Literary Criticism assembles some of the most insightful advocates of this perspective to illuminate ecofeminism as a valuable component of literary criticism.

Principles of Islamic Interpersonal Conflict Intervention: A Search within Islam and Western Literature

The purpose of this paper is to discuss potential principles for interpersonal dispute resolution models within an Islamic context. Such a task requires an Islamic researcher to walk a fine line in order to avoid falling in one of two methodological traps. The first trap is to draw upon western literature on conflict analysis and resolution without sufficient consideration of whether and how that literature may be applied in an Islamic setting. The subtle assumptions underlying most of the conflict intervention models developed in the west have gone undetected, until recently. The other trap is to embark upon a review of the existing Islamic literature relevant to conflict. This approach leads directly to entrapment in circles of legalistic interpretations developed centuries ago, which lack the spirit of conflict resolution as a movement for social change and an interdisciplinary field of research.

The ‘Space Between’ or Why Does the Gap between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ Look Like an Unbridgeable Chasm?

This paper is a reflection on my experiences in teaching ‘Gender in a Postcolonial World,’ based on my book Reorienting Western Feminisms. In this article, I explore how difficult it is to discuss the differences between women without falling into a dualistic contrast between ‘us’ and ‘them,’ I discuss several approaches, including Isabelle Gunning's notion of world traveling and Gayatri Spivak's idea of strategic essentialism. The article concludes that a major way of avoiding dualism is to address issues of difference in specific contexts and by participants being aware (if the political implications of their learning and speech.Is difference good or bad, biological, social, or historical? Is it a weakness or a strength? Should we forfeit a notion of sexual difference on the grounds that all people, men and women, are not essentially different from each other, but merely culturally constructed as different? Can these constructions of masculinity and femininity be undone? (Holub, 1994: 235)…there is no question that the ability to deal with difference is at the centre of feminism's survival as a movement for social change (Gunew and Yeatman, 1993: xxiv).The opposite of equality is not difference, but, rather, inequality (Rita Felski, 1997: 15).

From Red to White: Wagga Wagga, 1890–1990

In the late nineteenth century unions were formed and flourished in rural Australia, supporting radicalism, socialism and industrial militancy, and linked with what appeared to be an ever-stronger labour movement. In the twentieth century there was a significant shift, with right-wing organisations, political parties and farming movements developing that were diametrically opposed to the labour movement; by the end of the century the Australian Labor Party (ALP) was largely city-based and trade unions had a low profile in rural areas. From a regional perspective, focusing on Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, and its hinterland, this paper examines reasons for this change during the 100 years from 1890. It highlights problems encountered by the labour movement and activists for social and political change. It concentrates on challenges facing the Wagga Wagga branch of the ALP, due especially to changing workforce demography, on the local elite and its control of institutions and on issues such as ‘countrymindedness’ and religion. Together, these offered insurmountable obstacles to trade unions and the labour movement at the regional level.

What Will Become of Reformasi? Ethnicity and Changing Political Norms in Malaysia

Malaysia's economic difficulties and political unrest have stimulated political parties and non-governmental organizations to re-assess efforts in shaping and responding to popular demands and attitudes. The governing Barisan Nasional coalition faces a stiff challenge from the Barisan Alternatif, composed principally of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, the Democratic Action Party and Parti Keadilan Nasional, which have set aside their differences to unite in the call for Reformasi. Beyond the elections, however, the larger questions at stake concern the nature of multi-ethnic co-operation in Malaysia, including whether political norms have shifted to allow national-level interests to supercede ethnic-group allegiances, and whether Malaysians of various classes and races prioritize abstract ideals of good governance or more concrete economic and other aims. Introduction The evolution and persistence of the Reformasi movement in Malaysia has spurred the ever-prolific cottage industry of political punditry to new records for productivity and ingenuity. The issues churned through the mill have evolved over the past year from Anwar Ibrahim's guilt or innocence to whether the combined opposition forces could get themselves organized, with an array of side issues stealing the spotlight along the way. Now all eyes are focused on the elections, the test of whether the opposition Barisan Alternatif (BA) can hold together and whether the long-dominant Barisan Nasional (BN) can hold its own in the face of perhaps its strongest challenge to date. However, the electoral outcome, interesting as it may be, is only a symptom of a larger process of political change. The elections will offer an indicator of what is important to Malaysians today and what the primary lines of cleavage are among voters -- in other words, whether Reformasi has caused (or at least reflected) real changes in Malays ian political culture or whether the current political goings-on are just a passing frenzy. This article attempts to assess the shift in Malaysian political culture, putting the Reformasi movement in historical perspective to evaluate how voters today differ from voters in the past, particularly in terms of the depth and spread of broadly nationalist sentiment, and evaluating the relative contributions of political parties and civil society actors to this apparent shift. The article begins with a summary of events in the Reformasi movement, contextualizing this discussion with a brief analysis of how the current endeavour differs from previous challenges to the BN. It then focuses on the broader picture: the contest between encompassing multiracial aspirations and particularistic ethnic interests, including the tension between the ideals of justice, transparency, accountability, and morality in governance and economistic calculations of individual returns. Next, a theoretical framework is proposed for understanding changing norms of political interaction, taking into account transnational influence s and such factors as the proliferation of alternative media, permitting some conjecture about likely electoral outcomes and future developments within both civil society and the broader political order. Clearly, any conclusions offered here can be little more than hypotheses, as political culture is inherently untidy and unquantifiable and the Reformasi movement has not yet run its course. These hypotheses may be helpful, however, in propelling the debate beyond the elections and on to the larger issues of the process of protest and the likelihood of political change in Malaysia. It is important to note at the outset that, in fact, the definition and goals of Reformasi have never been monolithic or clearly-defined; the movement actually links a wide array of protesters with divergent aims and concerns under a commodious, if amorphous, umbrella. This article will accept the term as popularly understood: the Reformasi movement is the broad-based popular movement for social, political and economic change. …

A finger in the wound: body politics in quincentennial Guatemala

Many Guatemalans speak of Mayan indigenous organizing as 'a finger in the wound'. Diane Nelson explores the implications of this painfully graphic metaphor in her far-reaching study of the civil war and its aftermath. Why use a body metaphor? What body is wounded, and how does it react to apparent further torture? If this is the condition of the body politic, how do human bodies relate to it - those literally wounded in thirty-five years of war and those locked in the equivocal embrace of sexual conquest, domestic labor, mestizaje, and social change movements? Supported by three and a half years of fieldwork since 1985, Nelson addresses these questions - along with the jokes, ambivalences, and structures of desire that surround them - in both concrete and theoretical terms. She explores the relations among Mayan cultural rights activists, ladino (nonindigenous) Guatemalans, the state as a site of struggle, and transnational forces including Nobel Peace Prizes, UN Conventions, neo-liberal economics, global TV, and gringo anthropologists. Along with indigenous claims and their effect on current attempts at reconstituting civilian authority after decades of military rule, Nelson investigates the notion of Quincentennial Guatemala, which has given focus to the overarching question of Mayan - and Guatemalan - identity. Her work draws from political economy, cultural studies, and psychoanalysis, and has special relevance to ongoing discussions of power, hegemony, and the production of subject positions, as well as gender issues and histories of violence as they relate to post colonial nation-state formation.

On the Functionality of Marginalized Masculinities and Femininities: An Ethnography on Organizational Power and Gender Performances

This ethnography tells of the social construction of masculinities and femininities in The Group, a charismatic social change movement. While sex essentialism led to sex-segregated jobs and only two authorized gender performances, men performing hegemonic masculinity and women performing emphasized femininities, alternatives existed. Alternative gender performances—for example, men performing emphasized femininity, men performing marginalized masculinity, and women performing hegemonic masculinity—were functional to organization. While these alternative gender performances were allowed, they were not acknowledged in the sex essentialist organizational discourse.

Feminism for Men

Drawing on lifelong experience in movements of social change and on the left, the author describes what he has sensed in women's lives from which he and other males need to learn: (1) compassion, as exemplified by the life of Rosa Luxemburg; (2) a horizontal style of leadership; and (3) the creation of “loose networks with strong bonds” described by Temma Kaplan. The Student Nonviolent Organizing Committee (SNCC) is offered as an example of an essentially feminist style of organizing, practiced by men.

NGOs and the global environmental facility: Friendly foes?

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) exists to fund global environmental benefits through international development projects. Interim financial mechanism to the United Nations conventions on climate change and biodiversity, it is also hoped that it will green its parent, the World Bank, and help reform the UN. Some NGO commentators castigate GEF as greenwash for a sick system; others ‐ part of the tacit coalition that created it ‐ prefer to render the facility more transparent, participatory and thereby effective. The environmental movement's responses to GEF's need for legitimation in ‘civil society’ may begin to transcend a quandary faced in many movements for social change: whether to enter, adjust and utilise the institutional structures within which problems arise, or to avoid co‐option by challenging the system from outside.