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Civil Resistance Against Foreign Occupation: Military occupation, contemporary colonization, and strategies of liberationSTPEC Focus Seminar II, 492H-01UMass, Amherst, Fall Semester, 09/03 – 12/11/2019Dickinson room 212Tuesday 4:00PM - 6:30 PMInstructor: Stellan VinthagenProfessor Stellan VinthagenEndowed Chair in the Study of Nonviolent Direct?Action and Civil ResistanceDirector of the Resistance Studies Initiative, UMass AmherstDepartment of Sociology200 Hicks Way, Thompson HallUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst,email: vinthagen@soc.umass.eduWebsite: : Thompson, Room 816Office hours: Tuesday 2-3 pm, and by appointmentAffiliated to:*Journal of Resistance Studies, resistance-*Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg*Resistance Studies Network, OVERVIEWThis course is focused on understanding the resistance in dealing with foreign occupation. In several places around the world people are living under military occupation from a foreign state, e.g. in Tibet, West Papua, Kashmir, Kurdistan, Palestine, and Western Sahara. Occupied people have tried to resist over decades, with armed rebellion as well as unarmed resistance mobilizations. Very little seems to work effectively, although it is clear that a combination of local mobilization and international involvement is necessary, like in East Timor and Kosovo. In several places we have seen an interesting shift from armed insurrections into unarmed ones. We will study the theories of resistance, occupation and the various particular contexts of these struggles. We will analyze, develop ideas and strategies for how people can liberate themselves through unarmed means of resistance. Students will be able to do their own studies of certain aspects of these liberation struggles. The course focus on ongoing, militarized and direct colonization, in a world otherwise described as “post-colonial”. These cases are different to the ongoing but historically long-term colonization all over the world of Indigenous people by settler colonial societies (like the USA or Canada), or de-facto accepted integration of foreign territories that is (today) administrated without foreign military repression (e.g. of Puerto Rico or Hawaii by the US, or of Martinique by France). These territories might occasionally emerge into increased nationalist uprisings and result in military intervention from the colonial Center, as e.g. in Catalonia (in Spain) or Ambazonia today (Southern Cameroon). This course focuses on something more obviously colonial: militarized and direct foreign rule of disputed territories, similar to how classic colonial projects once enfolded. We focus on territories where we find (1) foreign direct rule, (2) military or militarized police presence, (3) a distinct national group of people where a clear majority strive for self-rule of some kind (autonomy or independence), (4) a history and ongoing mobilization of resistance exists (often both armed and unarmed), (5) no obvious solution is in sight (often despite recurrent attempts by the international community). We will also study and learn from protracted violent conflicts that (at least for now) have found solutions or achieved some forms of freedom, e.g. Northern Ireland, Eritrea, South Sudan, East Timor, Kosovo. We are mainly interested to learn how developed resistance strategies and liberation struggles can, in combination with other tactics (as lobbying, international diplomacy, etc.), and under favorable circumstances (e.g. democratization processes of or overstretch from war efforts by the colonizing state), lead to human liberation and self-rule in some form. The course will also problematize certain ethical-political dilemmas and contradictions of liberation struggles, mainly the degeneration of liberation struggle into terrorism against civilians, corruption of rebel elites, new (“liberated”) state creations that evolve into authoritarian and repressive regimes, etc. Fundamentally, it is a dilemma of how resistance develops new forms of domination and violence. Course goalsBy the end of the course you should, based on your learning from the literature and class discussions: show ability to read a larger text material and extract the main points claimed by different authors recognize key features of military occupation, colonization, civil/unarmed/nonviolent resistance, armed resistance, everyday resistance, creation of autonomous institutions, decolonization and liberation strugglesunderstand the differences between key concepts connected to the theme of the coursebe familiar with several different theoretical frameworks that try to explain the nonviolent resistance, construction of autonomy, and liberation strugglesbe able to apply at least one theoretical framework of resistance on a case of liberation from foreign occupation recognize ethical, political and methodological challenges that unarmed movements that engage in liberation struggles encountershow ability to critically analyze and problematize a case involving civil resistance, construction of autonomy, and liberation struggles (including critically show risks of recreation of power relations through resistance). REQUIREMENTSAlways remember to identify yourself: Remember to state your full name and class when you communicate with the instructors via email, handing in papers or in any other way hand in material for the grading of the course. (The only exception is the written evaluations that are done anonymously online). Active participation in class: This course is organized with a combination of different class meetings (lectures, text seminars, and paper seminars). During text seminars we discuss some key texts together, and during lectures and other types of seminars you will be given supplementary perspectives on the course theme. Therefore, you must complete the required readings of some specified texts before the class meeting for which they are assigned (see schedule below), and it is expected that you actively participate in the discussion of the readings during seminar sessions. In addition to demonstrating an understanding of the main arguments and themes of the readings, you are encouraged to think critically about the readings (i.e. identify strengths and weaknesses), compare and contrast them to other readings or literatures, and make connections to ongoing social processes and current events.Text readings (of course literature): This course applies somewhat more texts to read than normal, since one of the course aims is to learn to read extensive: to learn and understand the main concepts, models, claims and theoretical frameworks – without reading everything equally careful. The emphasis is not on remembering details in a smaller collection of texts, rather on your ability to compare, criticize, problematize and discuss differences within the literature, and to form your own positions in relation to that literature. To secure that kind of learning we apply the learning form of seminars with discussions, and lectures that bring in perspectives that supplement the readings.Text seminar rapporteurs (oral and written performance): For each of the seminars for which we have required readings, one or more students will be designated as rapporteurs, who are responsible for presenting to the class a concise summary of the main points and arguments of the readings (time limit: 20 minutes). This report also has to be written and copied to everyone in the class as a handout. It can be made in form of definitions of key concepts, quotes of main theses or bullet-points, but need page numbers for all main statements.Text seminar questions: Each student will have to team up with another student and together hand in a paper with two questions to the seminar (i.e. 2 questions per pair of students). Based on the reading of the required reading for the seminar your question has to be well informed, and one that is problematizing statements made in the reading. (It is not accepted to hand in a question that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no”, or where the answer can be found on a certain page.) Make copies of your paper with questions to yourself and your team member, as well as one copy to the professor to hand in before the seminar starts (i.e. three copies in total). News rapporteurs for “Here are the news” (oral and written performance): News about liberation struggles within mainstream media is generally sporadic, misguided, distorted and incomplete. In order to counter that we at several class meetings have a news report of about 10 minutes with a selection of highlights relevant to the course theme. Students, according to an elective schedule, conduct this report function. Making the news report is only possible if you have actively searched for news from activist sites and alternative media outlets using Internet (for some suggested outlets to begin with, see below). You are supposed to search for relevant news on liberation struggles globally that are on one of the conflict zones focused in the course, preferably about resistance, but also about the occupation and everyday life. In this way the class will stay updated on what happens on the activist front. Once the report is done you hand in your notes to the professor (as plain text or keywords in a bullet list). Only when the notes, with full name stated at the top of the paper, are handed in, the assignment is complete. Review essay (written performance): Each student is required to choose one recent scholarly book (published the last four years) that falls within the substantive domain of this course, such as a form of resistance, a particular liberation struggle against foreign occupation, or a relevant theoretical issue that link to liberation struggles, and to make a review essay of the book. The book needs approval from the professor before you start to write. Email a description of the content of the book and a link to its website to stellan.vinthagen@ Since each student need to choose a book someone else has not yet chosen, it is good to be quick in reporting which book you choose. This essay should consist of 3 double spaced pages, and the text shall be evenly distributed with 1/3 of the text (1 page) per section: (1) Summary of the main content and points of the chosen book, (2) Analytical comparison with the mandatory literature at this course, and (3) Your critical reflection of the strengths and weaknesses of the chosen book. The review is due on Oct 22.Course Paper and presentation, and peer-review (oral and written performance): The main assignment of this class is the course paper. A paper is required on a topic of your choice that falls within the substantive domain of this course. However, the topic needs to deal with some of the main cases in focus of the course liberation struggle: Tibet, West Papua, Kashmir, Kurdistan, Palestine, and Western Sahara. (If you want to look at another case, discuss with your professor first). The topic can be to study a particular aspect of the struggle: the building of autonomy, everyday resistance, cultural resistance, international solidarity, the role of women, the relation between unarmed and armed struggle, etc. (Just make sure there exists enough of literature to do a study of that aspect! Mass media cannot be the main source.). Or, you might want to summarize the whole struggle in this case in general. You can possibly compare two cases, if you prefer. However, note that there will not be time to gather your own data. You will have to base your work on material written by others on the case(s). You can get inspiration in choosing ideas for your paper by looking at the recommended websites below. You have the opportunity to get direct feedback on your choice of topic, but only if you have an idea to present in the class session Sept 24 (see schedule). When you have decided on a topic, submit a 2-page paper that summarizes your topic and includes a preliminary bibliography with at least 5 scholarly sources (again, mass media sources are okay, but cannot be the main resource for the paper). Scholarly sources are books or articles written by academics and published by university related publishers, with documentation of how the data was gathered, and references to sources throughout the text (included are also reports written in a similar style, published by publishers that are not tied to a political party). This summary of 2 pages is due at the beginning of class on Oct 8. Those submitting in time (and include their email address on the paper) will get written feedback from the professor.You can structure your paper in different ways, but at the minimum you need a section on the occupation (history, actors, key events, facts, etc.), a section on the resistance aspect you chosen (strategies, tactics, actors, key events, facts, etc.), and a section that discuss the dynamics of the resistance (as a form of conclusion, drawing out achievements, and problems). You have to give references in your text, revealing from where you have the information. Make sure it is clear what is stated in your sources, and what is your own words and interpretation. You can use any style of references, as long as it is systematic, understandable and clear.The draft version of the paper has to be mailed on Dec 3 to your professor. The paper should be double spaced, with between 4 000 and 5 000 words in total, including references. It is absolutely vital to discuss and refer to the course literature when relevant. You have to follow conventional principles of academic honesty and not use any concepts or text (even shorter sections) from other sources without referring to the source (if you copy a sentence it has to be shown as a quote). Failure to follow this basic principle of academic honesty might have severe consequences (see specifications below). Presentations of drafts will be on Dec 10 in groups during class (more information later). The presentations should be no more than 15 minutes in length. All students are expected to read all papers of their group before the seminars, and have comments to share. During the class when papers are presented, the papers will also go through a peer-review process in which each student will comment on one paper written by someone else. The peer-reviewing student will (1) give a 5-10 minutes oral review with the main points during the seminar, and (2) make a written peer-review, which will be copied and given to the author. This peer-review shall follow a standard format of academic seminars and journals (including recommendation for publishing or not, and detailed comments for editing). More guidelines on the format for peer-review will be provided in a separate handout later. With the help of review comments and discussions at the paper seminar at the end of the course, you have the opportunity to improve and rework your paper one more time before it gets a grade by your professor. You have until Dec 17. NOTE: This is an absolute deadline for the final version of your course Paper. Submit via email to the professor: stellan.vinthagen@ Late submissions are not accepted. Make sure you get a reply back, confirming the submission of the paper in a readable format.Students are encouraged to publish their paper in some way. The options are several, as for example at the websites of the Resistance Studies Initiative or Waging Nonviolence, as Working Papers to be published online at UMass, blog postings somewhere, or as an academic article in a (student) journal you find. You do not, of course, have to make your text publicly accessible if you do not want! However, the course is an opportunity to write something for a wider audience, if you would like to do that. Extra credit is possible (Excursions to liberation struggles)There are organizations that gather diaspora from conflict zones or those activist groups that work in solidarity with the liberation struggle in our North East area of the US. You can make a visit to a group and learn about their struggle and write up a report, which can be an important learning experience. The professor can help out with suggestions of places to visit, but the student needs to facilitate the contact and agreement of an appropriate time and form for a learning visit. You will need to write a short report from your visit and what you learnt. More information about this possibility will be provided during the course. If you are interested take contact with the professor.Grading Participation in class discussions………………………15 %Text Seminar rapporteur ………………………………15 %Text Seminar questions and News rapporteur …………15 %Review essay …………………………………………………..15 %Paper, presentation and peer-review of other paper……………………………...40 %Higher grading of your performance demands an ability to show – both verbally and in written format – a critical understanding and application of the core ideas formulated in the course literature and the key themes of the course. What that means will be explained with illustrating examples during class. Accommodation StatementThe University of Massachusetts Amherst is committed to providing an equal educational opportunity for all students.? If you have a documented physical, psychological, or learning disability on file with Disability Services (DS), you may be eligible for reasonable academic accommodations to help you succeed in this course.? If you have a documented disability that requires an accommodation, please notify me within the first two weeks of the semester so that we may make appropriate arrangements.Academic Honesty StatementSince the integrity of the academic enterprise of any institution of higher education requires honesty in scholarship and research, academic honesty is required of all students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. ?Academic dishonesty is prohibited in all programs of the University. ?Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and facilitating dishonesty. ?Appropriate sanctions may be imposed on any student who has committed an act of academic dishonesty. ?Instructors should take reasonable steps to address academic misconduct. ?Any person who has reason to believe that a student has committed academic dishonesty should bring such information to the attention of the appropriate course instructor as soon as possible. ?Instances of academic dishonesty not related to a specific course should be brought to the attention of the appropriate department Head or Chair. ?Since students are expected to be familiar with this policy and the commonly accepted standards of academic integrity, ignorance of such standards is not normally sufficient evidence of lack of intent ().REQUIRED READINGSIn total we have about 50 pages per week, including your own chosen book for review, which means it is vital you read it all, and are prepared for reflecting on and discussing the texts in class, particularly when we have TEXT SEMINARS (see schedule below). If you read every week it will not be any problem to keep up. So, don’t wait until just before class to read. In general literature is accessible via the UMass library or can be downloaded online or will be provided by the instructors. There is however one book you will have to order (Nepstad 2015, see Seminar 1 below) and it is important to do that directly making it possible for you to get it in time. This is marked “NOTE: TO ORDER” in the literature list below. Order for example via , , or Readings in relation to lectures Schock, Kurt (2003) “Nonviolent Action and Its Misconceptions: Insights for Social Scientists”, PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Oct., 2003), pp. 705-712. Published by: American Political Science Association. Article Stable URL: (7 pages) Engler, Mark and Paul Engler (2014) “Should We Fight the System or Be the Change?’, Common Dreams, June 4, (8 pages)Hess, David and Brian Martin (2006) Repression, backfire, and the theory of transformative events. Mobilization, Vol. 11, No. 1, June 2006, pp. 249-267. (Accessible at )S?rensen, Majken Jul (2016) Constructive Resistance: Conceptualising and Mapping the Terrain, Journal of Resistance Studies, Volume 2, Number 1. (Accessible at )Martin, Brian (2006) Paths to social change: conventional politics, violence and nonviolence. In: Ralph Summy (ed.), Nonviolent Alternatives for Social Change, in Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), developed under the auspices of the UNESCO (Oxford: Eolss Publishers, , 2006). (Accessible at )Collard-Wexler 2013 “Understanding Resistance to foreign occupation”, Colombia universityChenoweth 2013 “Understanding nonviolent resistance: An introduction”, Journal of Peace Research. Kocher 2013 “The Rabbit in the hat: Nationalism and Resistance to foreign occupation”, APSA paper. Pape 2010 “It’s the occupation, stupid”, Foreign Policy. Roberts 1985 “What is a military occupation?”, Oxford University Press. Text seminar 1: Fundamental theoretical perspectives Erickson Nepstad, Sharon (2015) Nonviolent Struggle: Theories, Strategies, and Dynamics, New York: Oxford University Press. “NOTE: TO ORDER”Text Seminar 2: Empirical cases Broudy 2013 “Under occupation: Resistance and struggle in a militarized Asia-Pacific”, Cambridge Scholars PublishingConetta 2005 “Vicious circles: The dynamics of occupation and resistance in Iraq”, Project on Defense Alternatives, Cambridge: MA. Glynn 2015 “Engendering occupation: The body as warzone in Liliana Cavani’s La Pelle”, Romance Notes. Gordon 2017 “How Israel’s occupation has shifted from a politics of life to a politics of death”, The Nation. Hechter 2009 “Resistance to alien rule in Taiwan and Korea”, Nation and Nationalism. MacLeod 2013 “What would it take? How a strategy of unarmed resistance could win freedom in West Papua”, online publication. Recommended readings (not required) Foreign policy analysis by Stephen Zunes, much on Western Sahara, Palestine, etc. statementsOpening statement at the First Intercontinental Encuentro for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism (1996): (visited July 20, 2018) Fourth Declaration (Jan 1996), see (visited July 20, 2018)Sixth Declaration (July 2005), see (visited July 20, 2018)Recommended outlets to get inspiration for the news reports: The primary recommendation is the unique collected sources of news at one site: sources: (not very active nowadays, but there are 50+ sites from different countries and cities with updates) websites for inspiration about movements and liberation struggles: Case studies of Campaigns (search for struggles around “occupation”) at Swarthmore database, Global Zapatistas, Chiapas, Mexico SCHEDULE OVERVIEW More details on class meetings will be provided during the course. This schedule may be modified. If so, changes will be announced in class and via mail. You are encouraged to join/form discussion/study group and create your schedule of meetings in relation to the class meetings. This will facilitate your studies of the texts. Course instructor: Endowed Professor Stellan Vinthagen, stellan.vinthagen@ Sept 3 LECTURE Course introPresentation of the course, assignments, literature, etc. Presentation of students and the professor. Speaker Series on Resistance, and Special events (Workshop, etc.) and visits. Sign up for assignments (News, External Events and Seminar rapporteurs). Order the Nepstad book NOW! See . Advice on how to read social science literature. What is Civil Resistance and Military occupation?; the Forum of Occupied PeopleAssignment: After class, read the Syllabus carefully. Sept 10 LECTURE RSI Resistance Studies Speaker Series: “Nonviolent Resistance Beyond the Single Story”, Professor Sean Chabot, Eastern Washington University. NOTE: At Integrated Science Building ISB, room 145. See Assignment: Search up the concepts “Nonviolence”, “Nonviolent resistance”, and “Subaltern”. Prepare a question for the speaker. Sept 17 MOVIE on the history of liberation strugglesToday’s liberation struggles against occupation comes from a history and tradition of struggles that still influences the thinking and strategies. Here are the newsSept 24 LECTURE Military occupation and (civil) resistanceHow we understand “military occupation” and “civil resistance” will influence our analysis of liberation struggles. Reading: Schock (see literature above); Pape 2010; Roberts 1985Assignment: Research one of the six key conflicts of the course (Tibet, West Papua, Kashmir, Kurdistan, Palestine, and Western Sahara). Draw out key facts you find noteworthy. Summarize in one page (double space) and hand in at class. No detailed references needed, just the main source(s). Voluntary Assignment: Present a general idea of the focus of your paperHere are the newsOct 1 LECTURE Civil resistance strategies and tacticsMore on the specific strategies and tactics of unarmed resistance Reading: Here are the newsOct 5 EXTRA OPTIONAL: Activist gathering at the Agape community, see Oct 8 LECTURE The dilemma of resistance: Creating new power (and states)All resistance, especially when it is successful, risks creating new power that becomes dominant, and therefore repressive, thus provoking new liberation struggles. Reading: Assignment: 2-page abstract of your course paper is dueHere are the newsOct 10 EXTRA OPTIONAL: LECTURE RSI Resistance Studies Speaker Series: “Why is it so difficult to build intersectional resistance alliances?”, Resistance Studies Fellow Mandy Carter, RSI UMass Amherst. NOTE: At Integrated Science Building ISB, room 145. See 15 NO LECTURE (due to Indigenous Day or “Columbus Day” on Monday Oct 14)Oct 22 TEXT SEMINAR Text seminar 1 on literature (with student presentation and discussions based on questions to the literature)See reading instructions above for the Text seminar 1Handout of Peer-review guidelines for the paper seminar is given out. Assignment: Review is dueOct 29 TEXT SEMINAR Text seminar 2 on literature (with student presentation and discussions based on questions to the literature)See reading instructions above for the Text seminar 2Nov 5 LECTURE The case of PalestineThe conflict in Israel/Palestine is one of the more contentious and complicated, yet a classic example of colonization and military occupation, with liberation struggles of different types. Readings:Here are the newsNov 6 EXTRA OPTIONAL: LECTURE RSI Resistance Studies Speaker Series: “Inhabiting the In Between: Barbara Deming’s Radical Feminist Nonviolence”, Research associate Ynestra King, Five College Women’s Studies Research Center. NOTE: At Integrated Science Building ISB, room 145. See Nov 12 LECTURE Constructive Programs (aka Building the New Society) We discuss how the failure of unarmed revolutions perhaps could be altered through the key idea that Gandhi suggested: the ‘constructive program’. Readings: Majken Jul S?rensen (2016) “Constructive Resistance”; Engler & Engler Here are the newsNov 19 NO LECTURE (Work on your course paper!) Nov 26 FALL BREAK week (no lecture) Dec 3 LECTURE The case of Western SaharaThe liberation struggle in Western Sahara is one of the least known, yet very similar to Palestine. Readings:Assignment: Your draft version of the paper is due. Email a word or txt file to stellan.vinthagen@ (no need to hand in a copy)Here are the newsDec 4 EXTRA OPTIONAL LECTURE RSI Resistance Studies Speaker Series: “Possible models of how to build intersectional resistance alliances”, Resistance Studies Fellow Mandy Carter, RSI UMass Amherst. NOTE: At Integrated Science Building ISB, room 145. See 10 CASE ANALYSIS Student presentations of draft versions of course papers (in groups)Reading: Read all course papers in your groupAssignment:,Prepare peer-review comments (written and oral presentation) on one assigned paperWe sum up the course, discuss how to apply the knowledge, celebrate the completed course, and evaluate the course. Dec 17: NOTE: This is the absolute deadline for the final version of your course Paper. Submit via email to the professor: stellan.vinthagen@ Late submissions are not accepted. ................
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