Teaching Civil Resistance in the Classroom

• In Event: TLC at APSA Technology and Innovative Pedagogy Track Panel 2: Bridging Technology and Critical Engagement

Abstract

Civil resistance movements are utilized more frequently and remain more successful than their violent counterparts yet remain understudied and taught less frequently in both undergraduate and graduate curriculum.
Each year the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) awards a fellowship to teach a course on Civil Resistance. Courses teach historical and ongoing examples of civil resistance and non-violent movements throughout the developed and developing world. As a recipient of the 2019 ICNC teaching fellowship, this paper will discuss the methods utilized to teach civil resistance in the classroom. The Civil Resistance course offered at my university centered around indigenous movements that challenged inequalities around the world. Because the course took place in Hawaii, a location of very active civil resistance, activists were invited into the classroom to discuss their tactics and students were invited to also engage in the varying activities in the state.
In addition to engagement with local activists, and Skype sessions with international activists, students participated in simulations in class. During simulations students were broken into 5-6 groups and given a specific role two weeks before the in-class simulation. Each role was given background information on the point of contention and they were advised to come up with a list of goals to present to the group, possible concessions, and tactics they were willing to use to achieve their goals. For example, the simulation on Mauna Kea TMT telescope protests took place after meeting with local activists. For the simulation students were put into the following groups: Kia’i (the protectors on the mountain), local government officials, Imua TMT (supporters of the TMT project), police, local news media. Over the course of the class, the groups engaged with one another, took actions, and then responded to those actions. The possibility for the movement to escalate to violence was always a possibility and because the course is about civil resistance the students were encouraged to utilize methods that would not escalate.
The course took a hands on community led approach that was inclusive of local activists and helped students learn how philosophical guidelines, like Kapu Aloha, helped maintain a peaceful resistance movement.

Author

• Andrea Malji, Hawaii Pacific University