Social Movements and the Challenges of Resource Mobilization in the Digital Era: A Case from Francophone West Africa

Africa Today ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Ndiaye
2021 ◽  
pp. 092137402110218
Author(s):  
Ute Röschenthaler

Brokers have played important roles in the trade of green tea between China and Mali, from the 19th century when tea first came to Mali up to the present. They mediate between tea buyers and sellers, work on their own account, use soft skills, knowledge and networks and make a living from the commission they gain. This article examines the work of brokers in the tea trade, the social constellations in which they are active and the scope of their activity. Based on extensive field research in Mali and China, this article shows how brokers create their own jobs in a dynamic business landscape, which is often delimited by governmental policies, competing entrepreneurial activities and social movements.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110345
Author(s):  
Theophilus Tinashe Nenjerama ◽  
Shepherd Mpofu

This study examines a new wave of populisms arising in the digital era using Pastor Evan Mawarire’s #ThisFlag movement: What are they, and how do they express themselves? How does the hegemony react to them? Non-mainstream, digitally born movements, especially in dictatorships, are dismissed by the political elite as ill-mannered disruptors whose political interventions are detrimental. To analyse the cleric’s populism and its meaning to the Zimbabwean body politic, we use three specific themes: (a) personality and influence of movement leader(s); (b) populist communication and messaging; and (c) recreating an involved citizenry. We used digital ethnography to gather and analyse data.


Author(s):  
Paolo Gerbaudo

Digital communication technologies are modifying how social movements communicate internally and externally and the way participants are organized and mobilized. This transformation calls for a rethinking of how we conceive of and analyze them. Scholars cannot be content with studying the digital and the physical or the online and the offline separately, but must explore the imbrication between these aspects by studying how the elements of social movements combine in a political “ensemble,” an ecosystem, or an action texture, defining the possibilities and limits of collective action. This chapter proposes a qualitative methodology combining analysis of digital media with observations of events and interviews with participants to develop a holistic account of collective action. This methodology is best positioned to capture the changing nature and meaning of protest action in a digital era, producing a “thick account” of the relationship between digital politics and everyday life.


1989 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Alan Fine

Despite the tendency to think of leisure activity in terms of personal preferences, leisure can also be understood in terms of the ability of organizations to provide resources for participants. Drawing on the resource mobilization approach to social movements, I outline a theoretical approach, labeled Provisioning Theory, which attempts to explain how leisure organizations use resources to attract and retain participants. Organizations must mobilize “fun” for members if they are to continue over time and the leisure activity is to increase in popularity. After describing how Provisioning Theory applies to a voluntary leisure subculture (mushroom collecting), I examine two special cases of the provisioning of resources: games that are “owned” or controlled by a corporation (Dungeons & Dragons) and voluntary sports activities organized with multiple levels of authority (Little League baseball).


1986 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard P. Gale

This article modifies resource mobilization theory to emphasize interaction among social movements, countermovements, and government agencies. The framework developed for tracing social movement-state relationships gives special attention to movement and countermovement agency alignments. There are six stages of movement-state relationships illustrated with an analysis of the contemporary environmental movement.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Usman Adekunle Ojedokun

In Nigeria, the availability of different Internet-enabled social media has led to the emergence of online social movements advocating the principle of good governance in the affairs of the state. In view of this, this paper examined the evolution of online social movements in Nigeria, and the role of ICT in their mobilization for good governance. Resource mobilization theory was employed as the explanatory framework. The paper contends that though online social movements in Nigeria are generally in their embryonic stage, they are, nonetheless, increasingly influencing the three organs of government and shaping public policies in the country.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 219-241
Author(s):  
Flora Losch

Abstract:Broadcasting archives have been being digitized in West Africa since the 2000s. Their digital transfer, presented as both a solution to their decay and a necessary step to take them into the new century, presents considerable challenges. This article, while emphasizing the historiographical value of the archives as sources and traces, argues that the processes they undergo, which also participate in these technical objects’ afterlife, are connected to a long and circulatory history of cooperation in broadcasting. Located at the interface of past, present, and future, they also provide an opportunity to question certain geopolitical fracture lines, especially those of knowledge and memory.


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