On 24-25 August, the Histories of Activism Research Group – in partnership with the Global and Transnational History Research Group - is hosting an online workshop that brings together 20 scholars conducting exciting new research on histories of transnational and diasporic political movements and activism. The topics explored at the workshop range from studies into pro- and anti-apartheid activism, to student and green politics, to black power and anti-colonial solidarities, to the politics of museum collecting, and much more. Please see below for the full programme.
Registration is free and open to all. It will take place on Microsoft Teams: links and further details will be shared with you once you register. To register, please visit the Eventbrite page here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/transnational-and-diaspora-politics-and-activism-workshop-tickets-162542169003
The research presented at the workshop forms part of a body of scholarship, much of which has emerged only recently, that considers global and transnational dimensions to political movements and activist networks. Some of this explores various forms of international advocacy, civil rights campaigning, ‘long-distance nationalism’, anti-colonial struggles, sites of interaction and cooperation, and the transnational layers of connection and influence played by migrant and diaspora communities. This has been manifested in the realm of formal political processes, such as election campaigning and voting, as well as in numerous forms and hues of activism. Understanding these histories may have repercussions for how we make sense of transnationalism, citizenship, diaspora, sovereignty, cosmopolitanism, political ideology and praxis, and democracy itself.
The workshop has a particular (but not exclusive) focus on the 1970s. This decade - following the upheavals of the late-1960s - seemed to witness a number of significant expressions of transnational mobilisation, many of which have received little or no academic attention. By reflecting on the 1970s - in the context of decolonisation, the Cold War, evolving diaspora communities, and new forms of globalisation and transnational connectivity - we hope to explore concrete or theoretical ties between different episodes and movements during this important historical period.
For further details please email Dr Edward Anderson (Edward.anderson@northumbria.ac.uk).
Tuesday, 24 August 2021
Panel One (10:00 - 12.30)
Transnational Solidarities and Racism in the Long 1970s
Chair: Liam Liburd (Durham University)
University of Sussex | Southern African Liberation Movements and Networks of Military Support: ZAPU’s Diplomatic Offensive in the Early 1970s | |
University of York | ‘Against All Reason’: British Anti-Racism and Transnational Opposition to Apartheid in the Long 1970s | |
Flinders University | From Wellington and Sydney to Salisbury and Johannesburg: Anti-Communist and White Supremacist Solidarity between Australasia and Southern Africa, 1950s-1980s | |
Northumbria University | British Students and Transnational Solidarity Networks in the Long 1970s |
Break (12:30-13:30)
Panel Two (13:30-15:30)
Long-distance Nationalisms and Diaspora Activism
Chair: Virinder S. Kalra (University of Warwick)
Northumbria University University of Cambridge | The Indian Emergency (1975-77) and Transnational Networks of Solidarity | |
University of Michigan-Dearborn | Free Palestine, Free Ourselves: Arab Americans and Transnational Activism in the 1970s | |
Grinnell College | The Long Arm of the Dictator: Ferdinand Marcos and the Transnational Repression of Overseas Filipinos |
Wednesday, 25 August 2021
Panel Three (10:00 - 12:00)
Transnationalism, the State and Non-State Actors
Chair: Daniel Laqua (Northumbria University)
Stichting Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen | The (a)politics of Representation: The Dutch Ethnographic Museum and Afghan Collections 1970-1990 | |
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) | 'A Diplomatic Offensive': State Mobilisation During the 1972 Uganda Expulsion | |
National University of Ireland, Galway | Environmental Futures: Green Activism in Britain and Ireland in the 1970s and early 1980s |
Break (12:00-13:00)
Panel Four (13:00-15:00)
Transnational and Diaspora Identities: Class, Race and Ethnicity
Chair: Kennetta Hammond Perry (De Montfort University)
Swinburne University | Transnational Experiences of Diasporic Political Activism in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s: Exploring the Case Study of Pierina Pirisi | |
University of Glasgow | Seafarers’ Struggles for Equality and Transnational Class Formation in the Conjuncture of Decolonization | |
University of Cambridge | The Black Eagles: The Changing Face of Black Power in Britain | |
De Montfort University University College London | Remembering the Liberation War of 1971: Transnationalism and Racism |
Concluding thoughts and comments (15:00 - 15:30)
