This group is engaged in designing a research project able to analyze the long-term, world-historical formation of antisystemic movements of all kinds over the last four centuries. We particularly concerned to capture the world-relational character of movements and protest, and how they form in relation to each other and across the temporalities and spaces of the capitalist world-economy.
Initial work is concentrating on establishing the successive waves and types of movements, and relating these phenomena to processes of accumulation, the interstate system, and class and status formation--particularly race and gender. Existing studies suggest, for example, that successive "waves" of socialist, nationalist, anticolonial, Black, feminist, etc., movements have occurred, but we do not to what degree such waves were worldwide. Study of failures and successes of movements, in different world epochs, will be used to analyze current trends in antisystemic movements.
The group has concentrated on charting antisystemic activity in four key epochs: 1789-1848, 1848-1917, 1917-1968, 1968-2001. Comparative world epoch measures were developed, including a focus on cross-zonal and cross-epoch linkages among movements. During the 2002-2003 year the group will also participate in a tri-campus consortium on movements with Syracuse and Cornell, and will be working with a Binghamton Dean's Workshop on Black Global Movements, coordinated by Michael West.
Discussion Notes and Schedule (for members only)
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