Activism, Protest and Dissent An Inclusive Interdisciplinary Conference
Protest has been part of human societies for millennia. Movements such as Black Lives Matter and Me Too offer a powerful reminder of the continued relevance of activism in the 21st century. While these examples of protest share a common DNA with historical civil rights and gender equality movements, activists today operate in a world where digital technology affords particular advantages and disadvantages that have changed how we engage with protest and dissent. We now have constant access to a steady stream of information about dissatisfaction with the state of our world, who is alleged to be responsible for the situation, and who is calling for change. Consequently, it has never been easier for activists to disseminate messages, educate the public and encourage participation by like-minded people.
Digital technology has also been criticised for facilitating ‘armchair activism’, in which dissent can be expressed in a single click or tweet instead of substantive action to achieve genuine change and. How does digital technology change the way activists operate compared to historical models of protest and activism? What can today’s activists learn from historical instances of protest? What impact does online activism have upon the importance of space and place to protests? How do new and emerging technologies change the way we understand and value online engagement as a form of protest and activism? How can these understandings assist activists in developing more effective strategies for achieving their goals in the future?
The second meeting of the Activism, Protest and Dissent project seeks to explore these questions through inclusive inter-disciplinary dialogues incorporating the perspectives, experience and expertise of participants from all relevant professions, disciplines and practices with a view to forming a selective publication to engender further collaboration and research. Unlike other conferences or gatherings, this event proposes to step outside the traditional conference setting and offer opportunities for participants to engage in interactions that are fruitful and conducive to broadening horizons and sparking future projects, collaborations, and connections.
To facilitate these interactions, the organisers welcome proposals for presentations, displays, exhibits, contested conversations, debates, poetic/literary performances, round tables, panels, interactive workshops and more. Possible topics for discussion include, but are not limited to:
• Comparative assessments of protests/movements and activists;
• Historical protests/movements and activists;
• Geopolitics and activism;
• Imitation and adaptation of movements;
• Repression and restriction of protest;
• Gestures and actions of protest (‘cancel culture’, social media movements, etc.);
• Education and other avenues of cultivating an ‘activist sensibility’;
• Art, music, literature, film, television, theatre as activism and protest;
• Representation of activism and protest in the media, literature, the arts, etc.;
• Iconic images of activism, protest and dissent, and their importance;
• Environmental activism and protest;
• Personal accounts of activism and protest;
• Questions of intersectionality within movements;
• Populist politics as a form of political dissent;
• Activism within institutions (e.g. academia, government, etc.);
• Activism in an environment of globalisation;
• Commercialisation of protest;
• Geographies of protest, the ‘where’ being just as important as the ‘why’;
• Spaces and places of dissent and activism;
• Activism and the law;
• Justice, activism and power;
• Violent resistance vs. civil disobedience;
• Nationalist and separatist movements;
• Revolutionary movements;
• Critiques of methods, objectives and activities of movements