Spaces Of Action Research Articles

Doing Social Space as a Chacterestic of Clinical Leadership Based on Advanced Nursing Practice - A Qualitative Ethnographic Study

Aim: The study aims to present and analyze the daily practices of Advanced Practice Nurses in hospitals and to reconstruct the constitutive spaces of action, especially in the context of clinical leadership. In doing so, a detailed picture of the prevailing social practices will be described. Research Question: How can Clinical Leadership be interpreted in dynamic work processes and their interaction in the hospital? Methods: An ethnographic research design including participant observation of nine Advanced Practice Nurses in two hospitals was conducted during the period 5/2020 to 8/2020. Data analysis included sequence analysis of participant observations. The study was classified as ethically unobjectionable. Results: This study shows how Advanced Practice Nurses connect people in the hospital through spacing processes and how they influence clinical care processes. The findings paint a detailed picture of the recurring everyday social practices of advanced practice nurses that are interwoven in a bundle and help to constitute and occupy social space. The results are presented in the Doing social space model. Conclusion: This process of reflection helps nurses and other health professionals to critically examine the conventions and rules that underlie their actions in clinical care and to explain the reasons for their actions. The findings should be of great interest as the actions of nurses can be explained and understood from both practice-based theoretical approaches and a spatial sociological perspective.

“Join the Coalition”: How Pioneer Journalism Communities Reimagine Journalistic Epistemology from the Periphery

This article examines how pioneer journalism communities reimagine journalistic epistemology from the periphery, and traces how ideas about journalism as a form of knowledge are embodied in their metadiscourses and enacted in their epistemic practice. Empirically grounded in metajournalistic discourse analysis of manifestos, event descriptions, and semi-structured interviews, this cross-national multi-method study explicates (1) pioneer journalism communities’ epistemic values found in the manifestos of 20 journalism startups from different parts of the globe and online descriptions of seven innovation-focused industry events; and (2) how pioneer journalism communities put these values into epistemic practice, based on interviews with 30 pioneer journalism producers from four startups located in different journalistic cultures—Bureau Local (UK), The Current (Pakistan), DoR (Romania), and New Naratif (Malaysia). The study findings suggest that pioneer journalism communities around the world imagine their knowledge production praxis as relational and meaningful, and through their metadiscourses and storytelling practices, create self-contained spaces of collective action, where publics play an equally important role in the negotiation of knowledge. Pioneer journalism communities around journalism startups/cooperatives go beyond their traditional epistemic role as facilitators of knowledge and adopt a semi-political, knowledge-based advocacy role, seeking to act upon their visions of “a better future” (Rappler).

Borderlands of Governance – Multilevel Cross-border Governance and Trajectories of Local Cross-border Ties in the Franco-German Moselle-Saarland Region

ABSTRACT In recent years, cross-border cooperation within the European Union – in particular between France and Germany – has experienced renewed “top-down” and “bottom-up” impulses towards a new multiscalarity. Focussing on the Moselle-Saarland region, we outline the relevance of local cross-border networks – conceptualized as “borderlands of governance” – for border-regional cooperation, which became particularly evident throughout the management of the Covid-19-pandemic. Making use of windows of opportunity offered by traditional “top-down” governance, borderlands of governance offer and perpetuate notions of alternative (cross-border) spatialities as relevant spaces of political action, both through practical spearheading of cross-border projects and through the representation of border interests within structures of multilevel governance.

The connective is communal: hybrid activism in online & offline spaces

ABSTRACT Based on work with three youth-led activist groups in Aotearoa New Zealand, we explore the hybrid relationship between online and offline activism. This hybridity serves as a ‘third space’ (Bhabha, 2004) that combines elements of collective and connective action. Our understanding of hybridity draws on and extends Bennett and Segerberg’s (2012) theory of connective action and MacDonald’s (2002) notion of ‘fluidarity.’ Building on their work, we interpret activist spaces as hybrid spaces where activist identities are constructed as both connective and collective. Hybrid activism contextualizes the ways corporeality remains central to the affective experience of many activist campaigns. The interacting affordances of each space generate possibilities for community organizing and community building that are qualitatively different than either on- or offline spaces alone. Communicative complexity Treré (2018) and activist self-narration are key elements of the hybridity that emerged in our study. In addition, the connective action properties of digital media were maximized when physical and digital campaigns were porous. Digital and material spaces are therefore co-constructing and complementary.

Media, Religion, and the Public Sphere

In the present study, I undertake to show that the public sphere can be constructed within the frames of a discourse loaded with religious symbols, either as part of religious institutions and manifestations, or, in a more interesting case, through the media discourse. I want to show that media functions as a ritualizing agent, which builds symbolic spaces of action and thinking. Journalists accomplish this by presenting events as if they had pre-established and immutable order and meaning, set within a religious system. The ritualization of the journalistic performance and the mythologization of the representation of events are some of the strongest tools for promoting a representation of events in a language loaded with religious symbols and to outline a public sphere constructed in a religious frame. Thus, using a sacralizing language, media creates a religious public sphere, which function as a liminal, subjunctive framework: it is possible to assume that now a new type of public sphere, defined by a religious frame, is developed, in a social context and symbolical frame that are totally different to the usual circumstances of a religious experience.

Intersectional Politics of the International Women’s Strike

ABSTRACT Increasingly, progressive organizing faces pressures to adopt intersectional forms of solidarity. Intersectional solidarity consists of an ongoing process of creating ties and coalitions across social group differences by negotiating power asymmetries. This approach to organizing is not a static outcome that movements achieve and preserve. Movements that seek to enact intersectional solidarity must engage in ongoing struggles to sustain it. This article focuses on the case of the International Women’s Strike (IWS) of 2017 and 2018 in Spain. We use this case to identify circumstances that can lead to failures to sustain intersectional solidarity and the consequences of the ruptures that follow. In the case of the International Women’s Strike, initial calls to organize around the subject of women and women’s labor mobilized broad support in 2017. Black women in Spain affiliated with a group known as Afroféminas called on expanding the subject of local IWS mobilization to center the experiences of Black subjects. In a broadly circulated announcement, Afroféminas called out this experience and announced that they would not participate in the International Women’s Strike. The case of the International Women’s Strike in Spain showcases an instance under which the search for intersectional solidarity can generate broad intersectional consciousness even when it leads to separate organizing tracks. The development of autonomous Black activist spaces informed the continuity and deepening of intersectional consciousness but limited the magnitude of the praxis (e.g. Afroféminas did not participate in the broader praxis that generated disruptive tactics and mobilized larger masses). In choosing to consider racism as a form of violence within one system of capitalist exploitation, limited notions of subjectivity dominated IWS. On the other hand, Afroféminas’ withdrawal of participation limited the scope of praxis and raised questions about the representativeness and inclusiveness of the broader movement. Thus, intersectional and oppositional consciousness can emerge from the withdrawal of intersectionally marginalized groups from coalition work while challenging the enactment of mass intersectional praxis.

From Postcolonial Social Contract to the Arab Uprisings: The Neoliberal Transformation of the State–Society Relations and the Alternative Spaces of the New Political Activism

From Postcolonial Social Contract to the Arab Uprisings: The Neoliberal Transformation of the State–Society Relations and the Alternative Spaces of the New Political Activism

Exploring the campaign space of non-party activism in the 2017 and 2019 UK general elections

In recent years there has been an increase in election-focused activity undertaken by non-party organisations. This activism concerns issues such as political education, cross-party collaboration, voter registration, and voter advice. Using the 2017 and 2019 UK general elections as case studies, we take a strategic action field approach to analyse how this campaign space is developing. We demonstrate the existence of competing logics of activism associated with the fields of social movements, electioneering, and ‘civic tech’. This leads to conflicts related to ethos, time, organisational hybridity, activism, funding and regulation, with such issues frequently shaped by the affordances offered by digital technology. Our findings contribute towards better understandings of how these actors operate in, and attempt to influence, the contemporary electoral landscape.

Speaking back to gender-based violence in New Brunswick schools through queer maker literacies with 2SLGBTQ+ youth

ABSTRACT Schools are a site of gender-based violence for queer, trans, and non-binary youth. Drawing on a participatory visual research project with three queer, trans, and non-binary youth, we argue that selfie and cellphilm production offer a glimpse into queer maker literacies. We suggest that the practice of making do-it-yourself (DIY) media productions with queer youth and older community collaborators in out-of-school settings provides opportunities for new intergenerational friendships and networks to be built. Through a discussion of the processes of critical making within the workshop, and the themes that arise in the cellphilm, including gender-based violence, queer experiences of school structures – and the way that friendship is positioned in relation to solidarity, collaboration, and speaking back – we argue that through facilitation and co-production of media, workshop spaces can be engineered with participants as spaces of solidarity, action, and safety even amidst institutional settings.

“Rest as resistance:” Black cyberfeminism, collective healing and liberation on @TheNapMinistry

Abstract Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry, uses rest as a “healing mechanism” and a form of resistance. With a vibrant social media following, the Nap Ministry builds upon a strong history of Black feminist activism that centers the lived experiences of Black women. According to Hersey, rest is personal and political, a fight against the commodification and exploitation of laboring Black folks from chattel slavery to contemporary grind and hustle culture. This article explores how Hersey builds upon a lineage of Black women’s activism in digital spaces while also exploring rest, “soul care,” and communal healing as ideologies rooted in Black (cyber)feminism. I argue that Nap Ministry constellates Womanism, Black (cyber)feminism, and Black liberation theory by promoting the power of rest, encouraging resistance against what bell hooks describes as the “imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy” that exploits Black women’s labor and renders their voices invisible.

Racial Capitalism, Political Reproduction, and the Commons: Insights from Migrant Solidarity Politics in Glasgow

AbstractThis paper foregrounds the centrality of reproductive politics in constituting the spaces of migrant activism. Addressing social reproductive issues as racial issues, it exposes how “premature death” and questions of survival shape migrants’ lives throughout the uneven geographies of racial capitalism. Drawing on the political experiences of the “No Evictions Network”—a migrant and activist‐led group campaigning for asylum seekers’ rights in Glasgow (Scotland)—the paper suggests the concept of “political reproduction”, grasping the interchange between care, trust, empowerment, political subjectivation, and the overcoming of barriers towards political action that take place within spaces of migrant activism. Building upon migrant voices and Black and Brown histories of organising, the paper explores the racialised, gendered, and classed character of reproductive activist labour in these spaces, evidencing the ways the notion of “political reproduction” breaks racialised and gendered constructions of political work.

A Comparison of Football Fan Activism in Ukraine and Germany

During the last decade, football fans in Germany and Ukraine have become increasingly active in the struggle for their interests. This article compares their respective activism based on reasons, tactics and spaces of activism over a span of eight years. The comparison shows that national politics are a dominant motive for Ukrainian fan activism, especially after the so-called Revolution of Dignity (Euromaidan) in 2014, including the Russian invasion. Politics is so important that activism is politically framed in this context even if non-political players like club management or the football association are addressed. In Germany, football’s governance is the major reason for fan activism, as fans strive to preserve or extend their influence on clubs’ and associations’ decisions. This difference emphasises the influence of national settings on fan activism. Concerning space and tactics, the samples show similarities, as in both countries ultras are the dominant type of fan group, an intersection of global ultra culture and activism tactics exists and activism mainly takes place in football stadiums. Therefore, fan activism can be understood as a globally connected movement that is nonetheless highly determined by the respective local context.

‘On the Border, I Learned How to Advocate’: Borderlands as Political Spaces for Burmese Women’s Activism

Abstract This article explores the political space of the border through the experiences of women activists from Myanmar, for whom the borderlands in Thailand have provided refuge as well as a conducive environment for political mobilization. At the same time, the border renders refugee activists insecure and precarious. Drawing on life history interviews, our analysis expands conceptualizations of the border as a dynamic political space by illustrating its dual capacity to both facilitate and constrain the political agency of refugee women from Myanmar. In particular, the spatial and temporal fluidity and in-betweenness of the border is shown to foster both repression and resistance. Exploring the character and salience of the border as a space for activism over time, we demonstrate how the political space of the border is relational, constituted in interaction with other political spaces, such as politics and governance in Myanmar, transnational activist networks, and the politics of international aid.

The lonely activist: On being haunted

In our six-nation comparative research project examining how women of colour activists in London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen and Madrid organise and mobilise against austerity, against the far right and for migrants’ rights, we found activists experiencing intense feelings of loneliness in their work. Emotional turmoil in activist spaces is to be expected since activists are mobilised to action precisely because of the deeply felt emotions about a particular social problem. However, we argue that activists’ loneliness is a structural alienation born out of the operation of white supremacy, patriarchy, classism, queerphobia, ableism and xenophobia not only in wider society but especially in activist spaces. Women of colour activists are made lonely by the unspoken power relations effectuated through emotions. In trying to negotiate the feeling rules of their activist spaces, we argue that much of women of colour’s emotion work is doomed to failure because many activist spaces are constituted by taken for granted dominations to which many women of colour activists are unable and unwilling to reconcile their feelings.

THE SLOW LANE: MOVEMENTS FOR SOCIAL PROGRESS

AbstractThe author, a seasoned social entrepreneur who is based in Berlin and works for Ashoka Innovators for the Public, writes about his concept of the Slow Lane, and how it contrasts with quick fixes, which he feels mostly do not work and can be destructive. He points to slow lane effectiveness in the wake of the 2007–2008 global financial crisis, and the subsequent strength of decisions taken by the Spanish government. He also describes the slow lane economic triumphs of Iceland. “Slowing down to listen,” he writes, “helped Iceland not only lower the pain for citizens, but it also delivered a much faster recovery. I like to think of this as the dividend of slowness.” There are also smaller examples, such as the nonprofit User Voice at “Pentonville Prison, a notorious prison in London.” The organization “brings ex‐offenders into prisons, to find out what prisoners really need.” The author delineates five slow lane principles, which in his words are 1. Hold the urgency; 2. Listen; 3. Share the agency; 4. Nurture curiosity; 5. Use technology as an enabler. He concludes that the slow lane is “a space of creativity, activism, and entrepreneurship that serves as our repository of social imagination.”

Dilemmas of the activist-researcher: Balancing militant ethnography, security culture, and reflexive ethics in Australia

Ethnographic practice in contentious and high-risk spaces raises important ethical and methodological questions. When working with grassroots activists who actively avoid forms of surveillance, the boundary between consensual observation and potentially harmful documentation becomes difficult to discern. This article aims not only to identify the gaps in qualitative research methodologies for scholars working with grassroots activists, but also to think of practical ways in which researchers should mitigate concerns both for participants and themselves. Based on fieldwork in Australia, the author explores the ethical, methodological, and emotional dilemmas of conducting research with activists as a militant ethnographer. The article argues that activist-centred project designs must consider the challenges between the researcher's mandate to collect data and their responsibility to uphold security culture both in and outside activist spaces. Reflexive research ethics, further, should be a part of ongoing research engagement to address the emotional tensions overlooked in standardized ethical protocols.

Performance, Protest, and Feminism in Latin America

How do activists in Latin America fight for change both online and in the streets? This piece narrates a course on Feminist Protest and Performance in Latin America that explores the limits and possibilities of feminist activism in physical and digital spaces. At this critical historical juncture, feminists across the hemisphere are organizing en masse to demand change and justice, to denounce pervasive misogyny and gender violence, and to envision and realize another world. Drawing on a long history of struggle, they are engaging in performance artivism across multiple platforms including Las Tesis piece El Violador Eres Tu (The rapist is you), under the hashtags #NiUnaMenos (#NotOneWomanLess) and #AbortoLegalYa (#LegalizeAbortionNow), and in massive physical occupations and protests like #OcupaEscola (#OccupyTheSchools). They are mobilizing to condemn femicide, to advocate access to legal abortions in public hospitals, and to introduce comprehensive sex education in public schools. Drawing on these interconnected forms of performance and protest, what Marcela Fuentes refers to as “performance constellations,” women and disidencias sexuales are fighting together for the right to live without fear, to make decisions about their own bodies, and to exist in a more just world. This class asks students to learn from Latin American feminst movements and to connect their insights to our intimate and collective experiences. Beyond the syllabus, this piece offers reflections on the philosophy of co-teaching, transnational activism across the Americas, and modes of embodiment that can happen online. We invite students and educators alike to consider what it might mean to “perform well” in a university class focused on pleasure and solidarity.

It’s About the Power of Little People’: the UK Community Sponsorship Scheme, a New Space for Solidarity, Civic Engagement and Activism

The Community Sponsorship Scheme (CSS) was introduced in 2016 by the UK Government to enable members of civil society to be directly involved in helping refugees settle in the UK. The CSS is intense and time-consuming, and a lot of effort is directed at helping one family to rebuild their lives in safety. Since the introduction of the scheme, nearly 1000 refugees have been resettled across the UK. The data used in this paper was collected as part of a three-year study intended to provide an independent formative evaluation of the CSS. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 145 volunteers and 33 individuals from the wider community at five locations where refugees have been placed, this article examines how acts of solidarity, community networks and civic engagement have mobilised ordinary citizens who advocate in favour of the refugee cause. The findings support the argument that motivations to volunteer are both altruistic and egocentric, predominantly delivered by older female volunteers. The article demonstrates that volunteers involved in the CSS have played a fundamental role in bridging social capital with wider members of the host communities. It concludes that the CSS is an innovative model of refugee resettlement that is breeding a new type of volunteering that empowers British civil society.

Home as a site of resistance/repression? The intersection of family, politics and the Hong Kong 2019 protest movement

This article illuminates the mutually constitutive nature of activism and family life in the context of a high-risk protest movement, by focusing on the 2019 Anti-Extradition Bill Movement in Hong Kong. Drawing on data collected through in-depth interviews with individuals who participated in the 2019 Movement, this article captures how politics penetrated individuals’ private lives through everyday family practices, and depicts the ways in which the protest movement undermined or fostered family cohesion. The findings illustrate the heterogeneity of family political interactions during political upheaval: while families were often sites of conflict and repression, which amplified political dissonance and reinforced hegemonic power relations within the domestic sphere, they could also become spaces of activism where individuals exchange political ideas and muster resources for collective actions. This study bridges the literature of family and social movement, by demonstrating how family lives and political participation are interwoven, and simultaneously structure protest participants’ biographical and social movement trajectories.

Pulling the Brakes on Political Violence: How Internal Brakes Limited Violent Escalation from the Provisional IRA in Pre- and Post-Good Friday Northern Ireland

ABSTRACT Under what circumstances do paramilitary groups place limits on their use of political violence? This article considers why one of the most prominent paramilitary groups active during the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, the Provisional IRA (PIRA), exercised restraint and limited their use of political violence, both in the lead up to, and in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement. It applies Busher, Holbrook, and Macklin’s “internal brakes” typology to understand why despite the PIRA’s proven capacity to sustain a campaign of armed violence for more than thirty years, they reined in on paramilitarism during the 1990s peace process. Through the lens of various brakes, the analysis identifies seven developments that were particularly salient in limiting the PIRA’s use of armed violence. These developments included: a weakened capacity to continue their armed campaign, waning popular support, an opening of political opportunities, the need to maintain ties with strategically important non-violent allies, the gradual softening of out-group boundaries, the decommissioning process, as well as the creation of spaces for non-violent activism within the wider movement. This study’s findings contribute to the scholarly debate on understanding how militant groups manage the parameters of their violence, highlighting several factors that may mitigate the risk of extremist views escalating to political violence.