Description
Book SynopsisPolitically engaged ethnographers examine the dynamics of contemporary transnational social movements, challenging dominant understandings of social transformation, political possibility, knowledge production, and the relation between intellectual labor and sociopolitical activism.
Trade Review"
Insurgent Encounters is an exciting and timely collection. It treats topics of great interest to students and scholars in a variety of fields, especially those concerned with ethnography, social movements, and activist scholarship. I am convinced that the engagement of activist ethnography with transnational social movements has the power to transform the disciplines, and ethnography, in interesting ways."—
Michael Hardt, coauthor of the books
Commonwealth,
Multitude, and
Empire"This important collection represents the best work by anthropologists who are reshaping ethnography 'of' and 'for' social movements. No other book addresses the present-day intersection and increasingly mutual identification of anthropological research and social-movement activism as thoroughly or comprehensively as this does. What's more, one gets the sense that the essays derive from a working community of activist-scholars living up to the vision of 'network' that the volume itself exemplifies. For me, the collection as an artifact and enactment of the kinds of collaboration that it discusses is one of its most fascinating features."—
George E. Marcus, coauthor of
Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary“The editors’ writing will capture readers’ attention and the stories, radical activist moments, and style of ethnographic writing in each subsequent case study will hold it...This collection represents an important advance in the study of social movements generally and transnational activism specifically as it is the first book to focus on the methods, perspectives and theoretical insights generated by ethnography.” -- Julie A. Pelton * International Dialogue *
“This new collection of essays edited by Jeffrey Juris and Alex Khasnabish is a refreshing and welcome contribution to the study of social movements…. this is a theoretically sophisticated and engaging collection of essays, and a welcome contribution to our understanding of radical social movements.” -- Patrick C. Wilson * Labour/Le Travail *
"In short, this is a bold experiment of what an activist-scholarhsip might look like, raising profound epistemological and ethical questions which only become more pressing as the ecological and social crises of this century deepen. I applaud the editors for their courage, and answer their call to bring a militant ethnography to the mainstream." -- Vita Peacock * Critique of Anthropology *
“
Insurgent Encounters makes an important contribution to the ethnography of activism and should be widely read. . . . For those grappling with how to use ethnographic methods in activist research this edited volume will make for a good introduction into many of the dilemmas and insights into thinking through political engagement and transformational change.” -- Junaid Rana * Journal of Anthropological Research *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xv
Introduction. Ethnography and Activism within Networked Spaces of Transnational Encounter / Jeffrey S. Juris and Alex Khasnabish 1
Emerging Subjectivities
1. Spaces of Intentionality: Race, Class, and Horizontality at the U.S. Social Forum / Jeffrey S. Juris 39
2. Tracing the Zapatista Rhizome, or, the Ethnography of a Transnationalized Political Imagination / Alex Khasnabish 66
3. The Possibilities and Perils for Scholar-Activists and Activist-Scholars: Reflections on the Feminist Dialogues / Manisha Desai 89
4. From Local Ethnographies to Global Movement: Experience, Subjectivity, and Power among Four Alter-globalization Actors / Geoffrey Pleyers 108
Discrepant Paradigms
5. The Global Indigenous Movement and Paradigm Wars: International Activism, Network Building, and Transformative Politics / Sylvia Escárcega 129
6. Local and Not-So-Local Exchanges: Alternative Economies, Ethnography, and Social Science / David J. Hess 151
7. The Edge Effects of Alter-globalization Protests: An Ethnographic Approach to Summit Hopping in the Post-Seattle Period / Vinci Daro 171
Transformational Knowledges
8. Transformation in Engaged Ethnography: Knowledge, Networks, and Social Movements / Maria Isabel Casas-Cortés, Michal Osterweil, and Dana E. Powell 199
9. Transformative Ethnography and the World Social Forum: Theories and Practices of Transformation / Giuseppe Caruso 229
10. Activist Ethnography and Translocal Solidarity / Paul Routledge 250
11. Ethnographic Approaches to the World Social Forum / Janet Conway 269
Subversive Technologies
12. The Transnational Struggle for Information Freedom / M. K. Sterpka 295
13. This Is What Democracy Looked Like / Tish Stringer 318
14. The Cultural Politics of Free Software and Technology within the Social Forum Process / Jeffrey S. Juris, Guiseppe Caruso, Stéphane Couture, and Lorenzo Mosca 342
Conclusion. The Possibilities, Limits, and Relevance of Engaged Ethnography / Jeffrey S. Juris and Alex Khasnabish 367
References 391
Contributors 423
Index 427
