CBSM Workshop 2007

MOVEMENT CULTURES, STRATEGIES, AND OUTCOMES

Call for Papers

The Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section of the American Sociological Association is issuing a call for papers for a workshop to be held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, during the summer of 2007. The theme will be "Movement Cultures, Strategies and Outcomes." The purpose is to explore how movement cultures shape movement strategies, and outcomes. Scholarly work has increasingly recognized the varied nature of movement cultures. Movement cultures have roots both in and outside of institutions; are nurtured in both facilitative and hostile circumstances; and can provide solidarity links among local, national, and transnational movements. The particular character of a movement culture reflects and affects the overall strategies and specific tactics developed by activists as well as the outcomes aspired towards and arguably achieved.

Thinking about the varied nature of different movement cultures generates a host of new questions, with attendant theoretical and methodological challenges for our field. Scholars interested in the symbolic, emotive dimensions of movements may ask: What primarily differentiates one movement culture from another? How are key components of movement cultures interrelated? For instance, what roles do art, emotions, historical narratives, and rituals play in nurturing movement identities? Do movement cultures operate differently in local, national, and transnational contexts? Do subcultures exist within movements? Scholars focusing upon agency and efficacy may ask: What roles do movement cultures play in formulating goals and strategies, framing, and choosing collective action tactics? How do different movement cultures contribute to varying perceptions of political opportunities? In what ways do activists deliberately and selectively draw upon discourses, emotions, collective identities, and norms in efforts to affect social change? Are there aspects of movement cultures that constrain activists from utilizing discursive and emotional opportunities to generate support among elites and bystanders? To what extent do movement cultures replicate or transform identities and power relations found beyond the movement?

We invite submissions from a variety of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives, including sociology, history, political science, anthropology, communications, and cultural studies. We particularly encourage submissions using methodologies that, while underutilized, lend insight into these relationships and processes.

The workshop will consist of four components:

1. Plenary sessions featuring work by scholars active in the field of collective behavior and social movements;
2. Concurrent panel sessions also featuring work and presentations by scholars active in the field;
3. Thematic sessions on a variety of topics (e.g., emotional cultures and movement strategies; collective action and cultural outcomes, etc.). These sessions will be organized around short discussion statements rather than papers and are intended to promote equal participation and open-ended discussion. We are especially interested in sessions that are co-organized by graduate students and faculty members as well as sessions that bring together activists with researchers who study their movements; and
4. A workshop Web site that will post workshop papers and discussion statements and promote online discussions among workshop participants.

• If you are submitting for a plenary session, please attach a Microsoft Word document containing an abstract of no more than 250 words formatted as a Microsoft Word document;
• If you would like to organize/co-organize a thematic session, please attach a Microsoft Word document describing in no more than 250 words your ideas for the session; and/or
• If you are willing to volunteer your time and effort to ensure the workshop's success. Please specify the type of work you're willing to do (e.g., develop and maintain the workshop Web site, publicize the workshop, moderate/facilitate a session/workshop, coordinate entertainment, take notes...).

Abstracts and/or papers should be submitted to cbsm2007@hotmail.com by February 15, 2007.

Please note that your submission will be assigned to one of the following sessions:

• One of the three plenary panel sessions:
  • Strategy: Conceptual Foundations and Agendas
  • The Formation and Development of Strategy
  • Strategy and the Cultural and Political Consequences of Movements

OR

• One of the following concurrent panel sessions:
  • The New Immigration Politics: Movements for Reform, Rights, or Restrictions
    Organizers: Rhys Williams (U. of Cincinnati)
  • Neoliberal Reforms and Popular Movement Strategies in the Global South
    Organizer: Paul Ameida (Texas A&M)
  • Resisting Political Repression
    Organizers: Kelly Moore (U. of Cincinnati) and Christian Davenport (U. of Maryland)
  • Strategy, Tactics, and Collective Identity
    Organizer: Lee Smithey (Swarthmore College)
  • The Morality of Food as a Social Movement
    Organizers: Gary Alan Fine and Michaela DeSoucey (Northwestern)

OR

• One of six paper panel sessions that will group together papers addressing related themes

OR

• One of the following thematic workshops (please note that your abstract/paper will be posted on the conference Web site, but you will not be presenting your paper at the thematic workshop):
  • Mobilization: Does Collective Identity Matter?
    Organizer: Belinda Robnett (UC Irvine)
  • Building Bridges Over Great Divides? Social Inequalities and Movement Strategies
    Organizers: Ellen Reese, Jane Ward, Christine Petit, and Shoon Lio (UC Riverside)
  • Labor and the "New Social Movements": Differences in Strategy, Organization and Perspective
    Organizers: Anna-Maria Marshall (University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign)
  • Reforming "Immigration Reform": Strategies for Redefining Terms of Immigration Policy Debate
    Organizers: Gregory Maney (Hofstra) and Nadia Marin Molina (Workplace Project)
  • Transnational Linkages and Movement Cultures
    Organizers: Anna-Liisa Aunio, Suzanne Staggenborg, and Kathleen M. Fallon (McGill)
  • Engaged Scholarship: How Public & Policy Sociology Can Affect Movement Cultures, Strategies & Outcomes
    Organizers: Robert Kleidman (Cleveland State) and Jackie Smith (Notre Dame)
  • The Politics of Feminist Framing
    Organizers: Lyndi Hewitt and Holly McCammon (Vanderbilt)
  • Social Movement Publicity
    Organizers: Ashley Currier and Kathleen Blee (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Narratives and Health Social Movements
    Organizers: Matthew E. Archibald and Charity Crabtree (Emory)
  • War without End?: Evaluating Peace Movement Strategies
    Organizers: Lynne Woehrle (Mount Mary College) and Patrick Coy (Kent State)
  • Insider Activism: Blurring the Lines Between Institutions and the Grass-Roots
    Organizer: Benita Roth (Binghamton)
  • Hip Hop Culture and Social/Global Change
    Organizer: Mark Wilson (UC Berkeley)

Please direct any questions or comments to cbsm2007@hotmail.com.

CBSM organizing committee: Andy Andrews, Jeff Goodwin, John Krinsky, Rachel Kutz-Flamenbaum, Greg Maney, Ellen Reese, Deana Rohlinger, and Dingxin Zhao. For future updates, please visit the section home page.