Social Movement Learning and Knowledge Production in the Struggle for Peace with Social Justice: Case Studies from Four Conflict-Affected Contexts, 2018-2021

Novelli, Mario and Kutan, Birgul and Tejendra, Pherali and Benjamin, Saranel and Kane, Patrick and Adnan, Çelik, (2021). Social Movement Learning and Knowledge Production in the Struggle for Peace with Social Justice: Case Studies from Four Conflict-Affected Contexts, 2018-2021. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-855275

This participatory, co-produced research seeks to understand how social movements, in some of the most complex and conflict affected contexts in the world, build knowledge, develop strategy, and educate in the pursuance of peace with social justice. Four participatory case-studies of four very different types of social movement, in Colombia, Nepal, Turkey and South Africa will be explored through a process of participatory, collaborative research that is carried out in close collaboration with the respective social movements. The case studies will then be synthesized to draw out comparative insights on the learning and knowledge production strategies of social movements in contexts of conflict.
Recent research on 'peacebuilding' has noted the lack of participation of civil society in peacebuilding processes, which results in peace agreements and peacebuilding processes that while ending the armed conflict, often fail to remedy the underlying factors that produced the conflict in the first place. At the heart of the drivers of conflict in many contexts is inequality, in its multiple economic, political, cultural dimensions: unequal access to resources, land, food, housing, education, healthcare, and unequal treatment before the law and/or the political system, particularly for different cultural and ethnic communities. These are precisely the areas that many grassroots social movements seek to mobilise in favour of. Strengthening social movements seeking to pressurise states to redress inequalities, is therefore a crucial peacebuilding measure and an important area of research that has hitherto received very little attention.

The social movements, who are core partners in the proposed research, are NOMADESC, a grassroots NGO based in Colombia; The Housing Assembly, a grassroots movement from South Africa; The HDK (Peoples' Democratic Congress), a coalition of social movements in Turkey; and the Madhesh Foundation, Nepal, an organisation that works with and for the excluded Madhesh community. Each movement, in different ways, advocates with and for marginalized communities seeking to defend and extend their basic rights to education, health, housing, life, dignity and equal treatment before the law. Each movement, to different degrees, has also been victim to state repression, violence against it members and activists, and sustained surveillance and persecution.

By focusing on the four social movements in diverse political and cultural contexts, we will develop an understanding of the multitude of ways social movements sustain and influence the agenda of social justice in conflict-affected contexts. Within each movement, we will analyse the processes of self-organisation (Fuchs, 2006), carry out 'movement mapping' to identify movement dynamics (e.g. organisations, memberships, ecological interconnections, patterns of mobilisation and stages), strategies (e.g. agenda setting, network ties, communication, movement plan of action) and actions (e.g. demonstration, strikes, boycotts, negotiations, parallel institutional structures). We will pay particular attention to how they cope with security challenges, how they engage in international solidarity and how they communicate with each other and raise awareness through different technological and pedagogical devices.
The research will make an important contribution to research on social movements, research on peacebuilding and research on education in social movements. Furthermore, the research will have real value for the four social movements under investigation, allowing for a period of self reflection and strategic development. It will also feed into real world debates on the struggles, strategies and knowledge production processes of social movements around the world in a period where increasing inequality, conflict and rising authoritarianism necessitate the strengthening of progressive social movements to build more sustainable and socially just societies.

Data description (abstract)

Data collected for this project included in-depth interviews, workshops and focus groups with social movement leaders and activists in 4 Conflict Affected Contexts: Turkey, Nepal, South Africa, Colombia. We also gathered archival materials and news clippings from each of the diverse contexts. Data was collected in local languages, transcribed, but not always translated. Project reports including detailed country/movement case studies, and a final synthesis report, are all available in open access format on the project's website

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