The Role of Women and Gender in Nonviolent Resistance and Social Activism

This course introduces students to the theories of gender and to practices of nonviolent resistance, social and peace activism. After placing nonviolent resistance in the broader context of conflict transformation, and distinguishing the academic subfields of nonviolent resistance from that of social movement studies, we explore the potential of people power and introduce the theory of consent-based power. We learn about the different forms and aims of nonviolent resistance struggles: rights-based struggles (civil rights, women's rights, socio-economic rights, and more), anti-authoritarian/pro-democracy movements, liberation movements/freedom struggles, peace movements. We discuss historical and contemporary examples of nonviolent resistance (India's struggle for independence and the struggle for civil rights in the US) and highlight the legacy of Gandhi, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. We discuss why and when people join nonviolent movements and why it is important to study nonviolent resistance. We introduce arguments (based on quantitative research) according to which nonviolent resistance works better than violent resistance. We learn about concepts central to nonviolent resistance (mobilization, resilience, leverage), levels of resistance, tactics of nonviolent action, principles of success (unity, planning, nonviolent discipline) and the link between nonviolent resistance and negotiation/democracy. We present the different "generations" of social movement scholarship - mass behavior theories, resource mobilization, political process and opportunity, culture theory and framing, new social movements theories - as well as the emotional turn in the study of social movements, encouraging a discussion on the limits and merits of each approach and on the role of emotions in protest. We consider the role of women and of gender in nonviolent resistance, introducing concepts such as the Women and Peace Hypothesis, cultural feminism, strategic essentialism, maternal politics and intersectionality. Students are encouraged to reflect on the role of women and gender in nonviolent resistance as we introduce different possible angles of study, providing examples of specific women's role in nonviolent movements, such as Rosa Parks, Irom Chanu Sharmila, Leymah Gbowee, Wangari Maathai and Cory Aquino. The course is illustrated with historical and contemporary examples of nonviolent movements and figures from around the world, including the United States, Israel/Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Hong Kong, South Africa, Sudan, the Philippines, Liberia, Kenya, Argentina, Chile, Ukraine and more. Knowledge acquired in this course is designed to allow the students, towards the end of the course, to provide their own critical analysis of a nonviolent resistance movement of their choice and to apply a gender lens to their analysis. The course is both practice-oriented and interdisciplinary, drawing from political science, international relations, conflict resolution, sociology and gender studies.