Thesis advisor: Jennie Purnell / In December of 2005, the United States House of Representatives passed the infamous Sensenbrenner-King immigration reform legislation that, if written into law, would have negatively affected the situation of millions of undocumented workers in the United States, mostly originating from Latin America. In response, the Latino community in the U.S. mobilized to organize a wave of rallies across the country during the spring of 2006. This thesis explores the construction of the collective action frame employed by movement organizers to mobilize protesters. It ultimately finds that the rhetoric of assimilation was chosen because of its ability to resonate both with the goal of effecting political change as well as with the identity of the potential audience. It was nevertheless found to be inadequate in addressing the larger issues of injustice affecting immigrants as it served to reinforce and perpetuate the oppression of consciousness that has often left Latinos feeling that their heritage must be rejected in order to be deemed worthy of certain rights in the United States. While movement organizers managed to mobilize millions of people across the country, their influence on legislation has yet to be seen, as no immigration reforms have been written into law as of the writing of this thesis. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2007. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: International Studies. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

This thesis illuminates the experiences, motives, and framing process of a cohort of homebirthing women in Tucson, Arizona who embody the collective action frames of the national homebirth movement. A model of birth frame construction, alignment and adoption is presented that expands current theory on social movement framing processes, cognitive liberation, and life politics in health and self-help related movements. The study explores the evolution of homebirth midwifery nationally and locally. It articulates the main collective action frames that argue against standard maternity care and presents the alternatives proffered by the homebirth movement. It presents micro-level experiences of movement pioneers, macro-articulations of movement leaders, respondent's micro-level birth model framing processes; and how "life politics" have changed birth culture in America. Written materials augmented data obtained from in-depth interviews with (n=38) respondents who homebirthed in Tucson between 1970 and 2000. Content analysis was utilized and grounded theory was employed.

This study compares repertoire and framing between two protests in the early Dutch environmental movement and two protests in the modern Dutch environmental movement. The aim of the study is to find differences and similarities between the two time periods the protests take place in. The four cases are studied using the comparative case study method, specifically doing a historical comparison. In each case, the theoretical concepts of repertoire and framing are analyzed. Each case is studied through a qualitative analysis of archival and secondary sources, including newspaper articles, publications and social media posts. Using the theoretical concepts of framing and repertoire, several similarities and differences are found between the four cases. All four cases use the frame of the threat to human health in their campaigns and aimed for a low threshold for people to join their campaigns. Frames differed more across campaigns with different topics than across campaigns from different time periods. In repertoire, cases differed across time periods more than within time periods. The contemporary cases focus on commitment by showing the willingness to bear great personal risk, whereas the historical cases focus on showcasing their worthiness through alliances with strategic actors. Overall, the comparative historical analysis employed in this research reveals that there are greater differences between time periods when it comes to repertoire than in framing, showing that repertoire is defined more by time period than framing for the chosen cases.

The Basque conflict has waged since the 1950s in its current form. However, with the arrival of democracy 36 years ago, the Basque Country has been the scene of an intense peace mobilization, dominated by two peace organizations: Gesto por la Paz, a group of community organizations that mobilize to publicly reject political violence, and Lokarri/Elkarri, an organization that includes a conflict resolution proposal based on dialogue between conflicting parties. While there is some literature on these organizations, none has analysed their extraordinary impact on Basque society. This research explores how the Basque peace movement has impacted on the social and political culture of the Basque conflict. It seeks to understand the nature of this impact and to determine the channels and methods by which it was achieved, using frame analysis. Three interlinked questions serve to guide the research, asking first if there is a Basque Peace Frame and if it could be considered a master frame, how this Basque Peace Frame has evolved, and, finally, how the Basque Peace Frame has impacted on other Basque Civil Society Organizations related to the conflict. This qualitative research spans the period between the March 2006 declaration of ceasefire by ETA and the end of fieldwork for this research in September 2008. The research includes 18 in depth interviews, written media, and analysis of seven notable Basque social organizations related to the conflict, in addition to the two peace organizations mentioned above. The research found the impact of the Basque peace movement in the Basque Country is significant and rich. The Basque Peace Frame developed based on the rejection of the use of violence as a political tool and identifies that violence as the main barrier to achieving an inclusive conflict resolution. The Basque peace movement organizations developed a specific kind of mobilization to enforce the Basque Peace Frame based on silent and symbolic acts. The objective was to counter the former dynamics of mobilization that were contentious and directed to promote Basque national rights. The Basque Peace Frame proposed a change in the way the political collective identity was constructed in the Basque Country, showing that an association between nationalism and violence is not obligatory. The Basque Peace Frame has evolved and spread between social organizations in the Basque Country, using sympathetic identity networks as the main channel of frame diffusion. Even organizations that did not reject the use of contentious methods of protest are now questioning the use of violence, signifying exciting prospects for the future of non-violent political action in the Basque Country.

This thesis explores the Danish labor movement’s use of Twitter during the collective bargaining in spring 2018 from a mobilisation perspective. This is done to investigate 1) the form of contentious politics practiced by the Danish labor movement, and 2) the role of trade unions in the Danish labor movement. One specific hashtag, #ok18, is analyzed. This investigation mainly builds on framing theory as developed by Snow & Benford (1986; 2000) and its connection to the logic of collective action, and the logic of connective action developed by Bennet & Segerberg (2013). Three methods were used to analyze the labor movement on Twitter: a social network analysis of @mentions, semantic network analyses of Twitter streams, and a quantitative content analysis. This study finds that the most important and central actors within the labor movement on Twitter are trade unions. Nothing indicates that Danish public employees used Twitter to organize independently of trade unions. Furthermore, the labor movement used Twitter to articulate collective action frames that served as shared “schemata of interpretation” for the collective bargaining. In addition, several framing processes that changed the collective action frames were identified. These results all indicate that the labor movement’s mobilisation on Twitter during the collective bargaining of 2018 is best described by the logic of collective action. There were no indications of personalization of politics or of an increased symbolical inclusiveness. The successful mobilisation in Spring 2018 might therefore be interpreted, with the big proviso that that this study only investigates Twitter, as the first small steps towards a revitalization of conventional trade union politics in Denmark.

As the need for action to tackle climate change grows, it has been stated that the corona pandemic mightconstitute a political opportunity for social movement organisations to advocate societal transformation. Thisthesis investigates the issue by answering if and how the young climate movement organization Fridays ForFuture Sweden has changed their framing of the climate crisis after the outbreak of Covid-19. Through aninductive frame analysis based on the collective action frames of Benford and Snow and applied on social mediaposts by the youth movement, the results show that a change in framing indeed has taken place. The mainfindings include how Fridays For Future Sweden has increased and dispersed their framing activity, intensifiedtheir use of a crisis frame and decreased the emphasis they put on intergenerational injustice. The studytherefore contributes empirically with an example of how a social movement organisation adapts to the politicalopportunities arising with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ce mémoire analyse la participation des femmes au nationalisme hindou associé au hindutva à travers la perspective de l’action collective, et ce, durant le premier mandat du très charismatique et nationaliste Premier ministre de l’Inde, Narendra Modi (2014–2019). Plus spécifiquement, il s’agit de cerner le narratif mobilisé se matérialisant en actions concrètes par les organisations féminines de la société civile du hindutva les plus importantes, la Rashtra Sevika Samiti et la Durga Vahini. Une analyse de cadrage médiatique permet de recenser les cadres de l’action collective qui sont fondés sur des conceptions socialement construites de la féminité et mobilisés par ces organisations féminines du hindutva. En plus de démontrer la forte prévalence du cadre féminin de la victime, suivis de près par celui de la mère et, finalement, celui de la guerrière, les résultats obtenus démontrent la mobilisation simultanée d’un cadre de compréhension global, le cadre cardinal du hindutva, véhiculant une hindouïté basée sur l’adéquation entre la religion et la nation hindoue. La prédominance des campagnes contre le love jihad et de leur narratif conspirationniste anti-musulman est attribuée au nouvel alignement de cadres issu de la structure d’opportunité politique que représente l’élection majoritaire du BJP. Avec l’élection de Narendra Modi, le parti nationaliste de droite qu’est le BJP solidifie ses positions néolibérales et mobilise un narratif faisant la promotion de l’empowerment féminin. Ces alliances s’inscrivent dans la montée du fémonationalisme, néologisme pouvant être attribué aux idéaux féministes et nationalistes associés à des discours et des politiques xénophobes et, plus particulièrement, anti-musulmans. / This thesis analyzes women’s participation in Hindu nationalism associated to the hindutva ideology through the perspective of collective action, during the first term of the charismatic and nationalist Prime minister of India, Narendra Modi (2014–2019). More specifically, it seeks to identify the narrative being mobilized and materialized in concrete actions by the most important female hindutva civil society organizations, the Rashtra Sevika Samiti and the Durga Vahini. A media framing analysis identified the collective action frames based on socially constructed conceptions of femininity and mobilized by these feminine organizations of the hindutva. In addition to demonstrating the high prevalence of the feminine victim frame, closely followed by that of the mother and, finally, that of the warrior, the results demonstrate the simultaneous mobilization of a global framework of understanding, the hindutva master frame, conveying a Hinduism based on the adequacy between religion and the Hindu nation. The predominance of anti love jihad campaigns and their conspiratorial anti-Muslim narrative is attributed to the new frame alignment emerging from the political opportunity structure represented by the majority election of the BJP. With the election of Narendra Modi, the BJP right-wing nationalist party solidifies its neoliberal positions and mobilizes a narrative promoting female empowerment. These alliances are part of the rise of femonationalism, neologism that can be attributed to feminist and nationalist ideals associated with xenophobic and, more specifically, anti-Muslim discourses and policies.

The Basque conflict has waged since the 1950s in its current form. However, with the arrival of democracy 36 years ago, the Basque Country has been the scene of an intense peace mobilization, dominated by two peace organizations: Gesto por la Paz, a group of community organizations that mobilize to publicly reject political violence, and Lokarri/Elkarri, an organization that includes a conflict resolution proposal based on dialogue between conflicting parties. While there is some literature on these organizations, none has analysed their extraordinary impact on Basque society. This research explores how the Basque peace movement has impacted on the social and political culture of the Basque conflict. It seeks to understand the nature of this impact and to determine the channels and methods by which it was achieved, using frame analysis. Three interlinked questions serve to guide the research, asking first if there is a Basque Peace Frame and if it could be considered a master frame, how this Basque Peace Frame has evolved, and, finally, how the Basque Peace Frame has impacted on other Basque Civil Society Organizations related to the conflict. This qualitative research spans the period between the March 2006 declaration of ceasefire by ETA and the end of fieldwork for this research in September 2008. The research includes 18 in depth interviews, written media, and analysis of seven notable Basque social organizations related to the conflict, in addition to the two peace organizations mentioned above. The research found the impact of the Basque peace movement in the Basque Country is significant and rich. The Basque Peace Frame developed based on the rejection of the use of violence as a political tool and identifies that violence as the main barrier to achieving an inclusive conflict resolution. The Basque peace movement organizations developed a specific kind of mobilization to enforce the Basque Peace Frame based on silent and symbolic acts. The objective was to counter the former dynamics of mobilization that were contentious and directed to promote Basque national rights. The Basque Peace Frame proposed a change in the way the political collective identity was constructed in the Basque Country, showing that an association between nationalism and violence is not obligatory. The Basque Peace Frame has evolved and spread between social organizations in the Basque Country, using sympathetic identity networks as the main channel of frame diffusion. Even organizations that did not reject the use of contentious methods of protest are now questioning the use of violence, signifying exciting prospects for the future of non-violent political action in the Basque Country. / La Fundacion La Caixa. Consejeria de Educación Universidades e Investigación of the Basque Country Government.

L'usage politique d'Internet et des réseaux socionumériques (RSN) ne cesse d'augmenter depuis plus d'une décennie. Le recours à des réseaux tels que Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Skype, Instagram etc., se manifeste comme un passage obligatoire, tant pour les acteurs politiques que pour les citoyens « ordinaires ». La présente recherche retrace l'usage politique et les logiques de mobilisation et de la production de parole politique sur les RSN dans le contexte de la crise syrienne en 2011. Elle questionne, à travers l'analyse de cas de la page The Syrian Revolution 2011, les possibilités que ces RSN offrent aux usagers dans l'instauration d'espaces de mobilisations et d'interactions collectives. Notre analyse s'est organisée pour couvrir deux périodes : la première s'étale de 18 janvier au 14 mars 2011, quant à la seconde, elle s'étend du 15 mars au 30 avril 2011. Ce découpage permet de comprendre le passage d'un mode opératoire à un autre en fonction du changement du contexte politique et de la dégradation de la situation dramatique en Syrie. Notre recherche question également la place de la discussion politique en ligne dans l'élaboration des cadres d'action collective. Elle montre que ces derniers sont, activés, adoptés et diffusés à travers des logiques propres aux pratiques sociotechniques offertes par les RSN. Ainsi, notre étude peut apporter une contribution, nous l'espérons, originale dans le champ de l'analyse des RSN. Elle montre comment ces derniers peuvent constituer un espace de mobilisation d'information à travers duquel les usagers peuvent développer différentes pratiques communicationnelles. / During the last decade, the political use of the Internet and Social Network Sites (SNS) has tremendously increased. Using networks such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Skype, Instagram, etc., has become a must for both political actors and ordinary citizens. Using as a framework the Syrian crisis in 2011, this research will follow the evolution of the political use of SNS in addition to the logics of mobilization and the production of the political speech in these networks. Through the analysis of the Facebook Page the Syrian Revolution 2011, it will question the possibilities that these SNS provide to the users to create mobilizations spaces and collective interaction. Our analysis covered two periods of time: the first one from January 18th to March 14th 2011, and the second from March 15th to April 30th 2011. This will help us better understand the change from one operational mode to another based on the change of the political context and on the degradation of the dramatic situation in Syria. Our research questions the place of the political discussion online and its parts on the creation of collective actions frames. It shows that these frames are activated, adopted and spread in ways that are specific to the social and technical practices provided by the SNS. From this perspective, we hope that our study can bring an original contribution in the analysis of the SNS field. It shows how these networks can be an area for mobilization of information that would help users develops various communication practices.