The master thesis Contemporary political art as a reflection of the time seeks to define the relationship of art and politics. The base is built around the statement of Boris Groys where he claims that every art is in a way political, as it accrues from a specific and given socio-political situation. The thesis then looks at the given art through the lens of a subcategory -- contemporary activist art. In terms of social history of art, the artistic expressions are seen as the counterpart to the forms of politicized art of futurism, German national socialism and Soviet socialist realism. The goal of the thesis was to understand the work of contemporary Czech and Slovak visual artists as a conscience of the time. First of all so in the form of civic responsibility for events in their own country that they voluntarily accepted. That is reflected in the visualized topics that provoke and shock the public. The thesis concludes by stating that contemporary political art is nonconformist, therefore determining the problems in today's society.

O objetivo dessa pesquisa é explicar quais os motivos que levaram os ativistas da Frente San-dinista de Libertação Nacional (FSLN) da Nicarágua a se engajarem em um movimento de alto risco. Argumenta-se que o recrutamento ocorreu nas diferentes fases do movimento e, para explicá-lo, foram reconstruídas as oportunidades políticas para o surgimento da Frente Sandinista; as razões da escolha do repertório de confronto violento; a combinação desse re-pertório com outro não violento; o processo de constituição da liderança de Carlos Fonseca e seu papel angular na construção dos enquadramentos interpretativos sandinistas que atraíram os ativistas para a mobilização. A dissertação analisa também o perfil sociopolítico de ativis-tas de alto risco atuantes no caso estudado, aferindo suas semelhanças e diferenças em compa-ração com participantes de outros movimentos revolucionários latino-americanos. Procura-se identificar fatores individuais e estruturais que levaram esses ativistas a se decidirem por tal tipo de engajamento. Foram utilizadas técnicas de pesquisa quantitativa e qualitativa para ana-lisar 121 entrevistas em profundidade das e dos ativistas da Frente Sandinista. Os resultados afiançam que os motivos para engajamento no ativismo de alto risco foram: uma profunda identificação com o antissomozismo propalado pelo movimento, facilitada pela disponibilida-de biográfica dos ativistas e por seus laços sociais, prévios ao seu engajamento, em particular vínculos organizacionais, com os movimentos estudantil e religioso, e vínculos pessoais, via amigos e familiares. / The objective of this research is to explain the motives that led the activists of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) of Nicaragua to engage in a high-risk movement. As re-cruitment occurred in different phases of the movement, it was rebuilt the political opportuni-ties for the emergence of the Sandinista Front; the reasons for the choice of violent confronta-tion repertoire; the combination of this repertoire with a nonviolent repertoire; the leadership of Carlos Fonseca and its angular role in the construction of the Sandinistas interpretive frameworks that attracted activists to mobilize. Once rebuilt the movement\'s bases, analyzed the overall profile and high risk of activists, assessing their similarities and differences com-pared to participants from other Latin American revolutionary movements; and individual and structural factors that led these activists decided on this type of engagement. Quantitative and qualitative research techniques were used to analyze 121 in-depth interviews of activists and the Sandinista Front. The results bail that the reasons for engaging in high-risk activism were a deep identification with the anti-somozismo movement, facilitated by biographical availabil-ity of activists and their social ties, organizational and individual, prior to their engagement. Ties with the student movement and religious prevail between (the) recruited (them), as well as strong ties with friends and family.

This thesis examines the attitude of Malaysia’s Islamist movements – (1) The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS); (2) The National Trust Party (AMANAH); (3) The Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) and (4) the Malaysian Muslim Solidarity Front (ISMA) towards the 2011 Arab Uprisings events or popularly known as the ‘Arab Spring’ in the Middle East and North Africa. In particular, it explores the knowledge and perceptions of selected Islamist movement activists, politicians and members in Malaysia towards the Arab Uprisings as well as considering how the events impact their activism, political approach and attitudes towards the issues of regime change, civil disobedience, political revolution, democracy, Islamism and political stability. This thesis also identifies a number lessons learnt by the Malaysian Islamists from the development of post-Arab Uprisings in the MENA region. The tendency of Malaysian Islamists to be influenced by the development in the Middle East and global political Islam are not seen as something new as evidently shown in the case of the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution. This popular event was known for its indirect impact on the political activism and approaches of PAS and ABIM in Malaysia back in the 1980-1990s, as well as inspiring many Malaysian Islamists to uphold the struggle of establishing an Islamic state in the country. Following the recent uprisings in several Arab states, which also witnesses the rise of Arab Islamist parties in securing a ruling power, these events have also been widely followed by the Malaysians in general and the Islamists in particular with great interest. Furthermore, the major involvement of Malaysian Islamists in a series of mass protests, popularly known in Malaysia as the “Bersih movement” (circa 2011-2016), against the ruling government, were perceived by numerous local and foreign journalists as an attempt to create a “Malaysian Spring” which inspired by the ‘Arab Spring’ phenomenon for the sake of toppling the current regime. However, there have been strong opinions voiced by the Malaysian authorities and various local scholars suggesting that there was no basis for presuming an Arab Uprisings impact in the context of the Malaysian experience. This raises the question of the relationship between the Arab Uprisings and Malaysian Islamists. Nevertheless, no matter how relevant the questions raised between Malaysia’s Islamist movements and the ‘Arab Spring’, the central concern that needs to be highlighted is the extent to which Malaysian Islamists grasp the fundamental issues of the 2011 Arab Uprisings before jumping to any conclusion about the polemics of the “Malaysian Spring”. In so doing, both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied through a questionnaire based-survey which was conducted in Malaysia involving 530 respondents, primarily among the registered and active representative of Malaysian Islamist between the ages of 18 and 45, as well as 15 in-depth interviews with selected Malaysian Islamist activists and leaders ranging from those in opposition political parties (PAS and AMANAH) to those in non-government Islamist organisations (ABIM and ISMA). The survey of Malaysian Islamists’ attitudes towards the Arab Uprisings development covered a variety of dimensions, namely understanding the general issues about the Arab Uprisings’ phenomenon, factors that lead to the Uprisings, the role of Islamist movements, the influences of the Uprisings on Malaysia’s Islamist movements activism and finally lessons learnt from the Arab Uprisings. The data is statistically analysed with the assistance of the SPSS computer package, and by using a number of statistical procedures, such as frequencies and cross-tabulations. The outcome of this research shows that the majority of respondents have an outstanding knowledge on the Arab Uprisings which was mostly obtained via new social media such as Facebook and Twitter, along with mixed perceptions toward the events. Furthermore, they also reached an understanding that the uncertainties in the Arab world would eventually lead to another wave of uprisings in the long term. Speaking of the global impact of the Arab Uprisings events, some elements of political repression, coupled with corruption and power abuses (which some claimed to be practised by the Malaysian regime), led to a number of Malaysian Islamists believing that they were inspired by the acts of mass street protests during the Arab Uprisings. This inspiration came when they witnessed the ousting of several long-serving autocratic Arab rulers in their respective states by the Arab protesters. However, the fear of insecurity and political instability which is currently evident in the post-Arab Uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Syria and the Yemen led to many respondents favouring political stability rather than regime change. Most of the respondents were quite sceptical about the polemics of the “Malaysian Spring” as most of them neither disagreed nor agreed that the series of political rallies by the Bersih movement were an indirect effort to topple the ruling government which was ‘accused’ by several pro-government media, politicians and authorities in Malaysia. Overall, this empirical research found that the majority of Malaysian Islamists from PAS, ABIM, ISMA and AMANAH are supportive of a free and democratic elections as a relevant medium for political change, rather than overthrowing the current regime via civil disobedience, street demonstration, or ‘revolution’.

Due to a personal interest in textile craft, my own experience as a knitter in combination with studies in integrated conservation and gender studies as a subsidiary subject this research was done as my thesis in integrated conservation. With the purpose to study textile craft traditions as a feminine part of the intangible cultural heritage in todays society with focus on craftivism, a questionnaire study was done. The study was addressed to craftivists who practice any kind of textile craft with the purpose to get a deeper insight in their understanding, attitude and opinions related to craftivism and textile craft traditions. The female norm in textile craft and especially textile craftivism was remarkably striking in the results of the questionnaire study, which can explain why feminism is an issue close to heart for most of the informants. Among many of the craftivists in this study there is an awareness of this norm and traditional feminine connotative meanings related to textile, for example softness and warmth. These connotative meanings are consciously used by many craftivists to create contrasts with norm breaking statements. These contrasting effects can be interpreted as innovative, inspiring and remarkable. Craftivism is therefore a way to use one’s creativity to make one’s voice heard. It could be a part of textile craft traditions today, in a stage of innovation and forward looking, which is likely to be a contributing variable due to the preservation of the intangible textile cultural heritage in the future. / Med grunden i ett eget textilintresse, mina erfarenheter som stickare, i kombination med kulturvårdsstudier och genusvetenskap som biämne utfördes den här undersökningen som kandidatexamensarbete inom kulturvård. Med syftet att undersöka textila hantverkstraditioner som ett kvinnligt kodat immateriellt kulturarv i dagens samhälle med fokus på hantverksaktivism utfördes en enkätundersökning som riktade sig mot hantverksaktivister som utövar någon form av textilt hantverk för att få en fördjupad inblick i deras förhållande, inställning och åsikter kring hantverksaktivism och textila hantverkstraditioner. Den kvinnliga normen inom textilhantverk och främst inom textil hantverksaktivism var påfallande tydlig i enkätsvaren och kan förklara varför feminism och kvinnofrågor är hjärtefrågor för majoriteten av informanterna. Hos hantverksaktivisterna i den här undersökningen finns i många fall en medvetenhet kring denna norm och traditionella kvinnliga konnotationer som berör textil, till exempel värme och mjukhet. Många använder sig av just dessa kvinnliga konnotationer och traditioner för att skapa kontraster med normbrytande budskap, en kontrastverkan som kan tolkas som nytänkande, inspirerande och uppseendeväckande. Hantverksaktivism är därför ett medel att använda sin kreativitet för att göra sin röst hörd och kan ses som en del av textila hantverkstraditioner i ett stadie av förnyelse och framåtblickande som med sannolikhet kommer vara en bidragande faktor i bevarandet av det immateriella textila kulturarvet för framtiden.

O objetivo dessa pesquisa é explicar quais os motivos que levaram os ativistas da Frente San-dinista de Libertação Nacional (FSLN) da Nicarágua a se engajarem em um movimento de alto risco. Argumenta-se que o recrutamento ocorreu nas diferentes fases do movimento e, para explicá-lo, foram reconstruídas as oportunidades políticas para o surgimento da Frente Sandinista; as razões da escolha do repertório de confronto violento; a combinação desse re-pertório com outro não violento; o processo de constituição da liderança de Carlos Fonseca e seu papel angular na construção dos enquadramentos interpretativos sandinistas que atraíram os ativistas para a mobilização. A dissertação analisa também o perfil sociopolítico de ativis-tas de alto risco atuantes no caso estudado, aferindo suas semelhanças e diferenças em compa-ração com participantes de outros movimentos revolucionários latino-americanos. Procura-se identificar fatores individuais e estruturais que levaram esses ativistas a se decidirem por tal tipo de engajamento. Foram utilizadas técnicas de pesquisa quantitativa e qualitativa para ana-lisar 121 entrevistas em profundidade das e dos ativistas da Frente Sandinista. Os resultados afiançam que os motivos para engajamento no ativismo de alto risco foram: uma profunda identificação com o antissomozismo propalado pelo movimento, facilitada pela disponibilida-de biográfica dos ativistas e por seus laços sociais, prévios ao seu engajamento, em particular vínculos organizacionais, com os movimentos estudantil e religioso, e vínculos pessoais, via amigos e familiares. / The objective of this research is to explain the motives that led the activists of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) of Nicaragua to engage in a high-risk movement. As re-cruitment occurred in different phases of the movement, it was rebuilt the political opportuni-ties for the emergence of the Sandinista Front; the reasons for the choice of violent confronta-tion repertoire; the combination of this repertoire with a nonviolent repertoire; the leadership of Carlos Fonseca and its angular role in the construction of the Sandinistas interpretive frameworks that attracted activists to mobilize. Once rebuilt the movement\'s bases, analyzed the overall profile and high risk of activists, assessing their similarities and differences com-pared to participants from other Latin American revolutionary movements; and individual and structural factors that led these activists decided on this type of engagement. Quantitative and qualitative research techniques were used to analyze 121 in-depth interviews of activists and the Sandinista Front. The results bail that the reasons for engaging in high-risk activism were a deep identification with the anti-somozismo movement, facilitated by biographical availabil-ity of activists and their social ties, organizational and individual, prior to their engagement. Ties with the student movement and religious prevail between (the) recruited (them), as well as strong ties with friends and family.

Known for its dramatic beauty and valuable natural resources, Appalachia has undergone significant technological, economic, political, and environmental changes in recent decades. Home to distinctive traditions and a rich cultural heritage, the area is also plagued by poverty, insufficient healthcare and education, drug addiction, and ecological devastation. This complex and controversial region has been examined by generations of scholars, activists, and civil servants―all offering an array of perspectives on Appalachia and its people. In this innovative volume, editors William Schumann and Rebecca Adkins Fletcher assemble both scholars and nonprofit practitioners to examine how Appalachia is perceived both within and beyond its borders. Together, they investigate the region's transformation and analyze how it is currently approached as a topic of academic inquiry. Arguing that interdisciplinary and comparative place-based studies increasingly matter, the contributors investigate numerous topics, including race and gender, environmental transformation, university-community collaborations, cyber identities, fracking, contemporary activist strategies, and analyze Appalachia in the context of local-to-global change. A pathbreaking study analyzing continuity and change in the region through a global framework, Appalachia Revisited is essential reading for scholars and students as well as for policymakers, community and charitable organizers, and those involved in community development. / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1152/thumbnail.jpg

Despite the efforts of maternal advocates and feminists through 150 years or more, a great many mothers today feel dissatisfied, shortchanged, and/or inadequate in their own lives. Even those who have reckoned with the fact that standards for mothering are absurdly out of synch with the real lives that families are living in contemporary times, or have carved out comfortable personal and familial space for themselves just beyond, or far beyond, the margins of mainstream motherhood ideologies, often struggle nevertheless with a needling sense of unrest and lack of personal agency. Further, women who agree that maternal empowerment is an important point of focus for social justice may not feel positioned to organize on behalf of mother activism. This essay explores ways that mothers can hold on to the continued struggle for maternal empowerment by letting go of some of the psychological barriers to living fully and purposefully as mothers. Focusing on personal agency as a form of maternal activism, Kinser examines ways for forgiving and embracing the humanity of our own mothers or maternal figures, our selves, and our children that can serve as powerful catalysts for significant change on personal and political scales.

Thesis (M.A. (History)) --University of Limpopo, 2018 / Student activism is a global phenomenon which mostly refers to work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. Most countries have benefited tremendously from student activism. For example, the students have played a central role in the independence and anti-colonial struggles in most African countries. The dissertation focuses on an exploration of the role played by University of the North student activism in the struggle against apartheid from 1968 to 1994. This was a period which was characterised by an upsurge of the nationalist struggle in South Africa led by political organisations such as the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Azanian People’s Organization (AZAPO) the South African Communist Party (SACP) and United Democratic Front (UDF). Student organisations such as South African Student Organisation (SASO), University Christian Movement (UCM), South African National Students’ Congress (SANSCO), Azanian Student Organisation (AZASO) and many others played a significant role. The dissertation deployed both primary and secondary sources. Secondary data was derived from published and unpublished dissertations, journal articles, newsletters, books and autobiographies. Primary information was obtained through archival materials, official university documents, speeches and, unstructured and interactive interviews in order to provide evidence for the nature and character of student activism in the university. Periodisation theory as articulated by Hollander, Rassuli, Jones and Farlow (2005) was utilised to interpret and illuminate the political struggle activities of the student activists. This theory was the most appropriate frame to tackle student activism because it divides the chronological narrative into separately labelled sequential time periods with distinct beginning and ending points. The investigation reveals that the dominant ideology at the beginning of the period under investigation was Black Consciousness inspired by Steve Biko. However with the lapse of time this ideology was watered down by the liberal ideology which underpinned the Freedom Charter. The student activists operated within organisations such as SASO, UCM, AZASO, SANSCO and many others. The dissertation also reveals that while the students were relatively successful in mobilising the support of rural schools and communities, they also faced vicious repression by the apartheid security establishment. The dissertation lays a solid foundation for further critical historical investigation.

This dissertation analyzes how transnational feminist advocacy and ideas about gender shaped modern human rights doctrines that remain central to this day. After World War II, United Nations delegates drafted and adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). During this process, international feminist activists disagreed about how to incorporate women's long-standing rights claims into the emerging human rights framework. Fiery interwar debates about laws and standards that regulated female labor persisted, prompting influential U.S. feminists to oppose the inclusion of gender-specific rights. To challenge U.S. opposition, key delegates to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) forged an unofficial coalition. Despite the fact that these CSW delegates held competing ideas about gender and represented distinct national governments, they collectively crafted a significant but little-known women's human rights agenda and lobbied UDHR drafters to adopt it. Their proposals not only included political and civil rights, but also promoted particular economic and social rights for women as a group. They maintained, for instance, that child care and maternity leave should be obligations of the state. Indeed, the CSW insisted that recognition of their women's human rights agenda was essential to building a socially-just postwar order. While Anglo-American women dominated interwar NGOs, the CSW showcased myriad international voices and won critical allies among liberal and conservative UN delegations by linking the advance of women's human rights to notions of modernity and democracy. As a result, the CSW made substantial political and civil rights gains, such as the guarantee of equal rights in marriage and divorce. Yet feminist delegates had to juggle their internationally-minded agenda with the interests they were to serve as national representatives. This task was further complicated by nascent Cold War politics and a growing anti-feminist backlash at the UN. In this context, UDHR drafters ultimately rejected the CSW's call for women's economic and social rights--a "social revolution" for women--in favor of the perceived stability of the "traditional" family. By the early 1950s, anti-communist pressures led the CSW to sever the pursuit of women's rights from the developing human rights framework at the UN. Feminists' absence from the UN human rights debates over the next several decades removed a forceful challenge to U.S.-led efforts to privilege political and civil rights over economic and social rights, and fostered a tacit hierarchy of rights that persists to this day. This dissertation places the CSW's competing vision of universal human rights at the center of the postwar human rights project, and expands our understanding of the history of international women's activism and human rights. By analyzing official UN records, delegates' papers and memoirs, and the records of governmental and non-governmental organizations, it reveals that postwar human rights advocacy was critically shaped by women's activism of the interwar period. Furthermore, this dissertation demonstrates that the CSW's demands for women's rights shaped the context from which the universal human rights framework emerged. Indeed, feminist activism and debates about the rights of women influenced UDHR drafters' views about human rights in ways that expanded, but also significantly curtailed postwar human rights standards. As a result, feminist activists continue to fight today for full recognition of women's rights as human rights.

This thesis examined bodied activism in Chicago's Slutwalk 2012 march, a contemporary movement initiated in Toronto, Canada that publicly challenged the mainstream sentiment that women are responsible for their own rape and victimization. Adopting an intersectional approach, I used textual analysis to discuss photographs posted on the official Chicago Slutwalk website to explore the ways this form of public bodied protest discursively engages women's empowerment from movement feminism as well as third wave and postfeminisms. I additionally analyzed the overall website and its promotional materials for the Slutwalk marches as well as how Chicago's photographic representations privilege the white female body as victim, demonstrating how the reclamation "slut" privileges whiteness. The website depictions normalize how one should react to a system of violence which provides negative implications for women and men who are situated in a postfeminist rape culture. Positioning my analysis within Communication/Cultural Studies and Women's and Gender studies, I contributed to the literature about rape culture and postfeminist activism through my analysis of Slutwalk. By employing intersectionality from feminist theory and textual analysis, I demonstrated how Slutwalk's promotion of bodied activism naturalized postfeminism and excludes Black women from participating.