Resistance Studies | University of Gothenburg (original) (raw)

Papers by Resistance Studies

The concept of resistance within the peace-building literature has received considerable attentio... more The concept of resistance within the peace-building literature has received considerable attention as well as becoming central to the critique of liberal interventions. Scholars approach to resistance within the 'local turn' literature has resulted in more elaborate studies; even so, local agency is typically narrowed down and conceptualised as a response to what is considered as problematic aspects of peace-building interventions. By analysing the resistance to/against the inclusion of 'forced marriage' as a crime against humanity in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), this paper suggests that the study of resistance within the local turn must be broadened. The case study reveals how different forms of resistance are performative of and intertwined with other forms of resistance as well as how resistance evokes local power reactions. In addition to this, the paper also demonstrates that external international interveners sometimes mobilise local resistance, which results in the formation of strong but uneasy alliances against local political elites. All in all, the resistance is far more complex than most local turn literature suggests.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or m... more All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

Currently, studies on collectively organized and confrontational resistance tend to dominate the ... more Currently, studies on collectively organized and confrontational resistance tend to dominate the field of resistance studies. In a different vein, this paper argues that the most powerful practice of dissent works as a form of constructive resistance that produce a slow transformation of values. The paper discusses strategies used by civil society organizations in Japan in order to establish alternative truths and thereby mobilize against poverty and pesticides. In the paper it is revealed how knowledge, which previously has remained invisible to mainstream perspectives, is more easily diffused if understood to represent 'the real' and, by this, provoke emotions. ARTICLE HISTORY

This article explores how resistance and power are intertwined within the field of mainstream Swe... more This article explores how resistance and power are intertwined within the field of mainstream Swedish feminism, by analyzing some of its more visible expressions and strategies. These feminist resistance strategies could be described as circulating resistance (e.g., the #metoo campaign), public assemblies, the more subtle "disciplinary resistance", and state feminism. The article illustrates how these different forms of resistance fuel different reactions from movements that reiterate different discourses of "anti-genderism". In addition, some forms of feminism (state feminism and feminist disciplinary resistance) sometimes develop into, or overlap with, different technologies of power.

This paper revolves around the politics of time and temporality within Michel Foucault's theorisa... more This paper revolves around the politics of time and temporality within Michel Foucault's theorisation of resistance. In focus is Foucault's outline of resistance as discursive resistance, reversed discourses, techniques of the self and counter-conducts, and other anti-authority struggles. These forms of resistance are played out across a range of temporal scales. When is resistance, in Foucault's view, spectacular and instantaneous rather than incremental and 'slow'? Overall, this paper reveals how the resistance practices, that are described within Foucault's texts, appear as repetitions of signs across time, major ruptures, breaks or as rhizomatic movements between now, then and the future.

Human rights-, gender-and environmental-activists struggle hard to get their messages heard. This... more Human rights-, gender-and environmental-activists struggle hard to get their messages heard. This paper discusses communicative strategies and the establishing of norms, in general, and the impact of repetitions, in particular. It contributes to previous research on meaning-making and discusses how/ what patterns of repetition are of central importance when activists are resisting certain discourses by way of negotiating and enhancing different norms. Overall, we use linguistic theories on repetitions and suggest different ways of repeating words, images or sounds in conversations and media that might transform the boundaries and content of contemporary discourses. This paper displays four different patterns of repetition – in the nexus between the symbolic and the material – that can be employed in order to establish, maintain or resist certain political truths. In this paper, we consider the repetition of representations, with the aim of accomplishing a transformation of values, to be a powerful practice of dissent and linguistic activism. Hereby, this paper answers to the call of a number of leading critical sociologists who urge us to place the future well-being of society at the center of our current sociological research.

This paper discusses the potential of different Preah Vihear temple replicas to resist Bdiscursiv... more This paper discusses the potential of different Preah Vihear temple replicas to resist Bdiscursive orders^ that have been used to legitimate war in the border area between Thailand and Cambodia. The replicas of the Preah Vihear temple are embraced as Brepeats^ of the Boriginal^; by this, we take off from linguistic theorizing of repetitions. The temple replicas could be considered as resistance against the very idea of one, single Boriginal^ temple. By consequence, the replicas, understood as Brepeats,^ have contributed to negotiate different relations of power and challenge various heritage discourses. The replicas' appearances and the resistance that they constitute ought to have the potential to contribute to Bpeace-building.^ However, instead of contributing to peace, the repeats, as the paper displays, have rather fueled the conflict between the two countries.

To cite this article: Mona Lilja & Stellan Vinthagen (2018): Dispersed resistance: unpacking the ... more To cite this article: Mona Lilja & Stellan Vinthagen (2018): Dispersed resistance: unpacking the spectrum and properties of glaring and everyday resistance, Journal of Political Power To link to this article: https://doi.

Resistance has often been connected with anti-social attitudes, destructiveness, reactionary or r... more Resistance has often been connected with anti-social attitudes, destructiveness, reactionary or revolutionary ideologies, unusual and sudden explosions of violence and emotional outbursts. This book goes beyond these conventions.

Exploring various key questions, ranging from concept definitions of affect and temporality, to complex entanglements of various social dimensions and ethical questions, this accessible guide provides a robust theoretical and methodological framework for researching of resistance and social change.

By drawing connections between resistance and politics, between performance and everyday strategies, and between the juridical and its counter-strategies, this book provides students with a transdisciplinary understanding of contemporary debates in this emerging field.

This article explores the meaning of " resistance " and suggests a new path for " resistance stud... more This article explores the meaning of " resistance " and suggests a new path for " resistance studies, " which is an emerging and interdisciplinary field of the social sciences that is still relatively fragmented and heterogeneous. Resistance has often been connected with antisocial attitudes, destructiveness, reactionary or revolutionary ideologies, unusual and sudden explosions of violence, and emotional outbursts. However, we wish to add to this conceptualization by arguing that resistance also has the potential to be productive, plural and fluid, and integrated into everyday social life. The first major part of the article is devoted to discuss existing understandings of resistance with the aim of seeking to capture distinctive features and boundaries of this social phenomenon. Among other things, we will explore resistance in relation to other key concepts and related research fields. We then, in the article's second major part, propose a number of analytical categories and possible entrances aiming at inspire more in-depth studies of resistance.

This paper deals with civil society mobilizations and resistance in relation to a world heritage ... more This paper deals with civil society mobilizations and resistance in relation to a world heritage site—the ninth-century Khmer temple Preah Vihear, which is located in the northern province of Cambodia and borders eastern Thailand. In particular, the paper explores resistance in terms of (re)categorizations from a historical and discursive–materialistic perspective. The field of resistance studies has mainly been preoccupied with entities such as texts, signs, symbols, identity, and language. In this article, however, we bring in physical and material entities in order to display the ways in which matter is of importance in the (re)construction of discourses and thereby for resistance.

ABSTRACT Departing from Judith Butler’s ground-breaking book Notes toward a Performative Theory o... more ABSTRACT
Departing from Judith Butler’s ground-breaking book Notes toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, this article will explore why extra cultural meaning is attached to resisting bodies that are involved in demonstrating assemblies. Across the globe resistance is played out by bodies that occupy pavements, streets and squares. The participants in public assemblies, are taking part in various emotional processes while coming together to struggle against, for example, disenfranchisement, effacement and abandonment. In embodied, coordinated actions of resistance the gathering itself signifies something in excess of what is being said at the event; there is a distinction between forms of linguistic performativity and forms of bodily performativity. By bringing in the concepts of emotions and matter, this paper will explore how and why resisting bodies signify something else/more than the vocalised or linguistic demands that they are making.

Resistance is both a common and somewhat unusual concept. It appears often in political debates a... more Resistance is both a common and somewhat unusual concept. It appears often in political debates and the media. Members of various non-governmental organizations and social movements also frequently use resistance when they refer to their various activities. In spite of the significant growth regarding the use of resistance during recent years, the discussion about the meaning and content of the concept, the ways resistance activities can be understood, as well as their potential impact, et cetera, is still rather divided and underdeveloped within academia. Hence, in spite of offering a necessary addition to the earlier focus on 'power' within the social sciences, the rapidly growing field of resistance studies is still very much in its infancy. This article is an attempt to introduce some of our main ideas on researching resistance in a systematized and structured fashion. One of the main arguments put forward in the article is that what qualifies as resistance is very much dependent on context, as the aim of various resistance practices also varies very much; so, does its different articula-tions as well as the ability of various activities to challenge political, legal, economic, social and cultural structures in society—ultimately to achieve 'social change'.

This article links Foucaultian power forms with its corresponding resistance. If resistance is a ... more This article links Foucaultian power forms with its corresponding resistance. If resistance is a reaction to power, then the characteristics of the power strategy/relation affect the kinds of resistance that subsequently prevail. Accordingly, it becomes interesting to discuss what kinds of resistance emanate from what kinds of power. We discuss this relationship between power and resistance by drawing on Foucault’s ‘triangle’: (I) sovereign power; (II) disciplinary power; and (III) biopower. Thus, deviating from Foucaultian studies’ preoccupation with ‘power’, we utilise Foucault in order to focus on ‘resistance’. And by connecting to empirical examples from within the emerging field of resistance studies we argue that the peculiarities of power decide how resistance can be conducted.

Lately, the concept of ‘resistance’ has gained considerable traction as a tool for critically exp... more Lately, the concept of ‘resistance’ has gained considerable traction as
a tool for critically exploring subaltern practices in relation to power.
Few researchers, however, have elaborated on the inter-linkage of
shifting forms of resistance; and above all, how acts of everyday
resistance entangle with more organized and sometimes mass-based
resistance activities. In this paper, these entanglements are analysed
by taking into consideration the connections between articulations
of resistance and technologies of power. Empirical observations from
Cambodia are theorized in order to provide better theoretical tools
for searching and investigating the inter-linkage between different
resistance forms that contribute to social change. In addition, it is
argued that modalities of power and its related resistance must be
understood, or theorized, in relation to the concepts of ‘agency’, ‘self reflexivity’ and ‘techniques of the self’.