Solidarities that know no boundaries? Transnational Advocacy in Historical Perspective
Call for Papers, deadline 15 August 2011
Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, 30–31 March 2012
What inspires activists to embrace causes that do not directly affect them? What drives professions of solidarity for an individual, community or nation? This conference will explore the ways in which activists have embraced the causes of groups of which their knowledge and experience was often limited. In recent years, online media have allowed activists involved in protests instant access to an international audience – at the same time raising questions about the utility and depth of this potential support base. A glance at some examples of nineteenth and twentieth century activism puts such developments in historical perspective: famous cases range from British agitation on the Bulgarian Atrocities to the transnational passions aroused by the Spanish Civil War; from the boycott campaigns of the anti-Apartheid movement to the West European left’s support for national liberation movements in the 1970s and 1980s.
Through a series of case studies, this conference seeks to explore the motivations that drive transnational campaigns; the bonds between local activists and their partners abroad; the relationship between ‘solidarity’ and ‘philanthropy’; and the domestic implications of transnational campaigns. We welcome proposals for papers that deal with 19th/20th-century case studies of transnational advocacy and solidarity networks. Contributions might explore the following themes:
- the imperatives behind political activism and transnational advocacy
- the links between local (directly affected) and international activists
- transnational infrastructures, whether associational or financial
- alliances between different interest groups over specific campaigns
- the process of adopting a cause, and its domestic implications
- the changing meanings and perceptions of specific campaigns.
Contributors will be asked to submit a written paper of circa 8,000 words prior to the conference, and to present a summary of their findings (15 minutes) in their panel. The conference forms part of a project launched by Northumbria University’s ‘Histories of Activism’ research group. We intend to produce two special journal issues, each of them with a specific thematic / chronological focus.
A 250 word abstract and a one-page CV should be sent to the conference organisers, Dr Daniel Laqua and Dr Charlotte Alston by 15 August: AZ.TransnationalSolidarities [at] northumbria.ac.uk. Contributors should indicate whether they are interested in being part of the publication project linked to our conference.