30603 - Global and Comparative Approaches to Activism

Description

This panel examines how activists navigate repression, construct collective identities, and mobilize across diverse social and political landscapes. The papers highlight how activism emerges in response to structural constraints through case studies of grassroots mutual aid networks in the US, UK, and Italy; right-wing youth groups in the US and Canada; LGBTQ+ NGO advocacy in Ghana and Singapore; diasporic protest movements in Japan; and Asian American activism in the US. They explore the tension between state power and civil society, the role of historical legacies in shaping activist trajectories, and the ways activists reimagine political engagement beyond traditional forms of mobilization. By bringing together diverse cases from around the world, this panel offers a global and comparative perspective on how activism is conceptualized, practiced, and sustained in a rapidly evolving global context.

Sub Unit

• Activists and Activism

Presider

• Minwoo Jung, Loyola University-Chicago

Individual Presentations

• Building Diasporic Allegiances: Sustaining Asian American Activism Through Emotional Transnationalism - christina ong, University of Nevada-Las Vegas

• Does Groupness Breed Extremeness?: National Cultural Influences on Right-Wing Groups in Canada and the United States - Kayla Preston, University of Toronto

• Immigrant Replenishment and Activist Habitus in Migration: Understanding Tokyo Protests Against South Korea’s Martial Law - Ilju Kim, Sophia University; Dodom Kim, Sophia University

• Queering Repression: How the Global Crackdown on Civil Society Affects LGBT+ NGO Foundings - Kristopher Velasco, Princeton University; Siddhartha Baral, University of California-San Diego

• Radical, militant, civic: Conceptualizing and practicing mutual aid in the COVID-19 pandemic - Elisabetta Ferrari, Aarhus University

Session Organizer

• Minwoo Jung, Loyola University-Chicago