scholarly journals Dalit Counterpublic and Social Space on Indian Campuses

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-156
Author(s):  
Kristina Garalyte
Keyword(s):  
Social Space ◽  
Student Activism ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Student Activists ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
The University

This article discusses three different university campuses in India and their political and social environments with a particular focus on Dalit student activism from March to June, 2013 and from January to March, 2014 when this ethnographic research was conducted. It questions what place the Dalit student activism, constituting the “counter public” (Fraser, 1990), occupied on the university campuses; how Dalit student activists interacted with other political groups on the campuses; what characteristic features the Dalit student activism had at the New Delhi and Hyderabad universities. This article discusses the changing power relations on Indian campuses and the role of “social space” (Bourdieu 2018, 1989) in negotiating social statuses. Dalit student activists actively engaged in appropriating social space by installing Dalit symbolic icons on the university campuses, bringing up caste issues to public attention and thus temporarily turning certain campuses into the “political strongholds” (Jaoul, 2012) of the Dalit movement. Contributing to the field of “the spatiality of contentious politics” (Leitner, Sheppard and Sziarto 2008) this article argues for the interactive relation between space and politics, showing how Dalit students changed the campus space through symbolic appropriation and, conversely, how historically constituted campus spaces affected the nature of Dalit student activism in each of the discussed locations.

Beyond the border war : student civil rights activism at the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri, 1946-1954

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Mary Beth Brown
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Race Relations ◽  
Student Activism ◽  
University Of Kansas ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Effect Change ◽  
Student Activists ◽  
The University ◽  
The 19Th Century

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This dissertation examines post-World War II student civil rights activism at two Midwestern college campuses, the University of Missouri (MU) and the University of Kansas (KU). Missouri and Kansas have conflicting histories concerning race dating back to Bleeding Kansas and the history of race relations on the campuses of KU and MU. This history is especially complicated during the period between 1946 and 1954 because of heightened student activism that challenged racial injustices. Race relations on campus largely mirrored that of the state's political environment, with KU having integrated in the 19th century, whereas MU did not desegregate until 1950. However, the same did not apply to the success of student activists at each school where MU students found success fighting against discriminatory practices in Columbia, whereas local business leaders and the university administration stymied KU students. The dissertation examines the exchange of ideas and strategy among students, which occurred through athletics, debates, guest speakers, and various regional and national groups. In particular, the study argues that campus spaces, such as residential co-ops and student organizations, were deeply significant because they served as incubators of activism by offering students a place to talk about racial and social injustice and plan ways to challenge these inequalities and effect change on campus and in the broader community.

Student activists’ affective strategies during the 2010-2011 siege of the University of Puerto Rico

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (11/12) ◽  
pp. 824-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Rosa
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Student Activism ◽  
University Of Puerto Rico ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Student Activists ◽  
Internet Activism ◽  
Spaces Of Resistance ◽  
The University ◽  
Resistance Performance

Purpose On December 14, 2010, University of Puerto Rico (UPR) student activists initiated the second wave of their strike at a disadvantage. The presence of the police force inside the campus raised the stakes for the student movement. No longer did student activists have the “legal rights” or control of the university as a physical public space to hold their assemblies and coordinate their different events. As a result, student activists had to improvise and (re)construct their spaces of resistance by using emotional narratives, organizing non-violent civil disobedience acts at public places, fomenting lobbying groups, disseminating online petitions, and developing alternative proposals to the compulsory fee. This second wave continued until March 2011, when it came to a halt after an incident that involved physical harassment to the Chancellor, Ana Guadalupe, during one of the student demonstrations. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Building on Ron Eyerman’s (2005, p. 53) analysis on “the role of emotions in social movements with the aid of performance theory,” the author center this paper on examining student activists’ tactics and strategies in the development and maintenance of their emotional narratives and internet activism. By adapting Joshua Atkinson’s (2010) concept of resistance performance, the author argues that student activists’ resistance performances assisted them in (re)framing their collective identities by (re)constructing spaces of resistance and contention while immersed in violent confrontations with the police. Findings Ever since the establishment of the university as an institution, student activism has played a key role in shaping the political policies and history of many countries; “today, student actions continue to have direct effects on educational institutions and on national and international politics” (Edelman, 2001, p. 3). Consequently, and especially in times of economic and political crisis, student activism has occupied and constructed spaces of resistance and contention to protest and reveal the existing repressions of neoliberal governments serving as a (re)emergence of an international social movement to guarantee the accessibility to a public higher education of excellence. Thus, it is important to remember that the 2010-2011 UPR student activism’s success should not be measured by the sum of demands granted, but rather by the sense of community achieved and the establishment of social networks that have continued to create resistance and change in the island. Originality/value As of yet there is no thorough published analysis of the 2010-2011 UPR student strike, its implications, and how the university community currently perceives it. By elaborating on the concept of resistance performance, the author’s study illustrates how both traditional and alternative media (re)presentations of student activism can develop, maintain, adjust, or change the students’ collective identity(ies). The author’s work not only makes Puerto Rico visible in the research concerning social movements, student activism, and internet activism; in addition, it provides resistance performance as a concept to describe various degrees of participation in current social movements.

University Crisis, Student Activism, and the Contemporary Struggle for Democracy in Kenya

2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline M. Klopp ◽  
Janai R. Orina
Keyword(s):  
Student Activism ◽  
State Violence ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
State University ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Student Activists ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Africa University ◽  
The University

Abstract:In many parts of Africa, university systems are in crisis; squalid conditions, student strife, and increasing state violence have turned many campuses into battlegrounds. Through an in-depth look at the Kenyan case, this paper examines some of the deep political dynamics of the current desperate situation. We demonstrate how in Kenya, state–university links involve attempts by higher-level government officials to control campuses through patronage, surveillance, and violence and how institutional configurations facilitate this. As the burden of repression falls on student activists who challenge current power configurations, we examine the current crisis through a student lens. By presenting and analyzing the historical narrative of student activism on campus, we show the inadequacy of overly structural, economic approaches to the crisis favored by the World Bank and some of its critics. Instead, we show the critical importance of understanding how the university crisis is organically linked to wider political processes, including local struggle over democratization of the state and economy.

Dialectics of homophily in the formation of friendship groups in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

2020 ◽  
pp. 053331642095974
Author(s):  
Sayak Dutta ◽  
Aditi Kundu
Keyword(s):  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Group Formation ◽  
Classroom Interaction ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Intergroup Contact Theory ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Friendship Groups ◽  
The University ◽  
Jawaharlal Nehru

Friendship choice in university campuses has persisted as a perennial theme in social psychology. Contextualizing the studies with Intergroup Contact Theory can help illuminate the social dynamics of a heterogeneous community. Present work, conducted in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India is an addition to this burgeoning field of literature. This article attempts to distil the role of interaction in the formation of friendship, highlighting the importance of homophily in the process. Furthermore, the chosen setting is a conscious attempt to overcome the significant western bias that exists in this field of enquiry. 495 respondents have been surveyed with the help of a structured questionnaire during the course of the research accounting to a total of 1,426 dyads that formed the unit of analysis. The study found strong evidence of homophily in the group formation within the university campus, even though classroom interaction emerges as the most significant factor. This article outlines that even though the degree and nature of interaction remain identity neutral, friendship choice is highly predicated upon homophilic association. Moreover, it is noted that duration of stay in the university does not, in any significant way, influence the factors of friendship choice.

The University Student Tradition in Brazil

1970 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert O. Myhr
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
University Students ◽  
Student Activism ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Current Student ◽  
The University ◽  
The Military

Almost every day our newspapers feature accounts of student ferment on one or another of the university campuses in both the “developed” and “developing” nations around the globe. University students appear to have become extremely active in recent years in attempting to influence policy decisions taken by both administrators of higher education and government officials. In Brazil, however, such student political activism is clearly not just a recent phenomenon. While Brazilian university students have played an increasingly important role in national politics since World War II, most recently in their outspoken opposition to the military-dominated governments of the late Castello Branco and that of President Artur Costa e Silva, they enjoy an important tradition of student political activism that cannot be overlooked. In fact, accepting the suggestions made with real insight by E. Wight Bakke regarding the causes of student activism, we find that an examination of the student tradition in Brazil helps to explain current student agitation.

Successful student activism in contemporary Italian universities

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-358
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Cini
Keyword(s):  
Student Activism ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Revision Process ◽  
Student Activists ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
Successful Student ◽  
Amplifying Effect ◽  
University Leaders ◽  
Student Mobilization ◽  
The University

This article assesses the strategies that the Italian student activists adopted in order to influence the revision process of the governance structure of their universities in 2011. Which kind of strategy has enabled these activists to influence more successfully this process? I argue that the joint pressure of insiders and outsiders allows student activists to get their voice more effectively heard from the university leaders than when one of the two forms of pressure is absent. The ‘power of the streets’ exerted by the ‘outsiders’, combined with the institutional power of the ‘insiders’, produces a significant amplifying effect in the governing bodies. University leaders fear this kind of alliance, as they perceive that insiders with a strong tie with other actors are the expression of a collective voice that is difficult to neutralize. On the other hand, the outsiders are also aware that their collective strength is more likely to be translated into institutional power and action from their allies and/or representatives. To empirically probe this proposition, I have singled out three Italian universities (University of Turin, Sapienza of Rome, and Federico II of Naples), which witnessed high levels of student mobilization in the past years (2008–13), and where student activists and their organizations adopted the most different array of strategies. More specifically, while at the University of Turin the student activists were able to deploy simultaneously both forms of pressure, at the Federico II of Naples and Sapienza of Rome one of the two forms was lacking.

Library response to Black Liberation Collective: a review of student calls for change and implications for anti-racist initiatives in academic libraries

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Faye Bocko ◽  
LuMarie Guth ◽  
Micha Broadnax
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
The United States ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Student Activists ◽  
College And University ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
The University

PurposeIn September 2015 protests erupted at the University of Missouri following a series of racist incidents on campus and culminating in the resignation of the university president in November 2015. In solidarity with the protests student activists at universities across the United States and Canada organized into the Black Liberation Collective and held the first #StudentBlackoutOut day of protests on university campuses on November 15 followed by the publication of lists of demands to over 80 colleges in 28 states, the District of Columbia and Canada in the hopes of creating more-equitable and inclusive institutions. These demands shared similarity in requests for equity as those put forth during the Black Campus Movement of the late 1960s which led to the establishment of Black studies and cultural centers at colleges and universities. Academic libraries in particular were included with several demands to better serve the Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) community.Design/methodology/approachWhile librarianship has largely been a historically White profession, libraries have undertaken many diversity and inclusion initiatives over the years. This article will examine seven case studies concerning college and university libraries addressing demands collated by the Black Liberation Collective in 2015. Six years out from the publication of the lists, we will evaluate statements issued by the libraries and posted on their websites, the promises that have been made to address inequities and the ensuing actions the libraries have taken to create a welcoming, inclusive community.FindingsThe authors examine seven institutions where demands from student activists speak directly to the library. We examine the library's response to make changes and subsequent actions.Originality/valueThe authors take a journalist approach to their research and examination of library responses.

scholarly journals Fighting for “Justice”, Engaging the Other: Shi’a Muslim Activism on the British University Campus

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Emanuelle Degli Esposti ◽  
Alison Scott-Baumann
Keyword(s):  
Student Activism ◽  
The Other ◽  
University Campus ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
The Past ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
Cultural Boundaries ◽  
The One ◽  
The University

While Shi’a Muslims remain in the minority in Europe, including within universities, the past decade has witnessed the growing profile of Shi’ism on university campuses, especially in Britain. In particular, there has been an emphasis on campaigns that prioritise notions of justice, equality, and human rights. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork conducted amongst Twelver Shi’a students in Britain between 2013–2018, this paper examines the forms of Shi’a activism currently being articulated on university campuses, especially those that explicitly seek to engage non-Muslims and spread awareness about Shi’a Islam. On the one hand, such practices constitute a form of self-representation for Shi’a students who would otherwise feel marginalised within the university space; while on the other, they promote a particular version of Shi’a Islam that both frames it within the European context and that also contributes to the sectarianisation of the contemporary Shi’a subject. While the forms and resonance of Shi’a student activism arguably only have meaning within the context of contemporary Europe, we argue that the discursive contours underpinning such activism ultimately transcend such national and cultural boundaries and contribute to a reinterpretation and reimagining of Shi’a sectarian identity for the modern age.

Campus Protests, Casting, and Institutionalized Violence: The Unique Role of the Theatre Department in Institutions of Higher Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-397
Author(s):  
Catherine Ming T'ien Duffly
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Black Women ◽  
The United States ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Student Activists ◽  
College And University ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The University

In looking forward to the important issues of this coming decade, we need only turn to the events of the past year for a sense of what is at stake for theatre, performance, and performance pedagogy. Last year, student activists protested racism on college and university campuses across the United States. At Yale, students protested the hostile racial climate on campus following several incidents, including a professor's dismissal of concerns about racist Halloween costumes, numerous swastika graffiti, and the explicit exclusion of black women from fraternity events. At the University of Missouri, the student group Concerned Student 1950—named for the year the first black students were admitted to the university—called for the resignation of university president, Tim Wolfe, citing the administration's inaction in the face of numerous racist incidents on campus. At Ithaca College, Claremont McKenna University, the University of Kansas, and many other colleges and universities across the United States, students held rallies, performed die-ins, and signed petitions in support of students at the University of Missouri and Yale and to call attention to inequality on their own campuses. Set against the backdrop of Ferguson and an increased awareness of institutionalized violence against black and brown bodies, these events remind us that colleges and universities have always been sites where racial discrimination and inequality have been both perpetuated and protested.

scholarly journals What Now for the Zimbabwean Student Demonstrator? Online Activism and Its Challenges for University Students in A COVID-19 Lockdown

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Bekithemba Dube ◽  
Baldwin Hove
Keyword(s):  
Student Activism ◽  
University Student ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Student Protests ◽  
Student Activists ◽  
State Security ◽  
Online Activism ◽  
Theoretical Paper ◽  
The University ◽  
Geographical Space

University student activism is generally characterized by protests and demonstrations by students who are reacting to social, political, and economic challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic revolutionized university student activism, and closed the geographical space for protests and demonstrations. The pandemic locked students out of the university campus, thus, rendering the traditional strategies of mass protests and demonstrations impossible. The COVID-19-induced lockdowns made it difficult, if not impossible, to mobilise for on-campus demonstrations and protests. It seems the pandemic is the last nail in the coffin of on-campus student protests. This theoretical paper uses a collective behaviour framework to explain the evolution of student activism in Zimbabwe, from the traditional on-campus politics to virtual activism. It discusses the challenges associated with cybernetic activism. The paper argues that, despite challenges, Zimbabwean university student activists need to migrate to a new world of digital technology and online activism. In the migration to online activism, students activists face a plethora of challenges. On top of the already existing obstacles, activists face new operational challenges related to trying to mobilise a constituency that has relocated to cyberspace. Student activists utilize the existing digital infrastructure to advance their politics, in spite of a hostile state security system and harsh economic environment, and other operational challenges. 

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