This thesis considers some conflicts involving indigenous peoples that arise from the universal standardization of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) over Plant Genetic Resources (PGR). My study presents the research problem of how to include indigenous peoples in dialogue as a prerequisite for conflict transformation. To better understand this problem, and potential solutions, I conducted participatory action research (PAR) through an ethnographic case study of Himalayan farmers working with the grassroots network Navdanya. The study explores the research question: how do Garhwali farmers experience grassroots mobilization for biodiversity and indigenous knowledge (IK) conservation? This question is intended to generate data for conflict resolution analysis on how to engage indigenous peoples in dialogue on the subject of IPRs over PGR. I discuss five themes that emerge from the data collected including: experiences and strategies in grassroots mobilization, culture and sharing, the seed, climate change and women. My research is divided into three separate, but interrelated elements. Firstly, I discuss my methodological choices and experiences. Secondly, I present the ethnographic research, thematic data analysis and draw conclusions. Finally, I frame the literature in the context of the theory of structural violence to explain the significance of conflicts arising from IPRs over PGR in the context of the erosion of IK systems and biodiversity.

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Abstract Social uprisings that attempt to achieve social change through nonviolentmethods are not a new phenomenon, but researchers have so far not beenable to determine the factors that lead to their success. This study engages inthat debate by looking at three ongoing cases of nonviolent resistancemovements, in Sudan, Myanmar, and Lebanon, and applying the lens ofErica Chenoweth’s framework, as that is the most recent work on the topic.While the results show that factors she presented as core elements forsuccess, such as participation numbers and the use of mixed methods, areimportant to further achieve defection and resilience, the results alsounderline the importance of international support, the history of nonviolentmovements and particularly geopolitics for nonviolent resistance movementsto achieve their goals. The conclusions point at the imperative for futureresearch to further examine and develop inclusive models for nonviolentresistance movements that can bring peaceful transformation anddevelopment, while also emphasizing the significance of internationalsupport to assist in the success of nonviolent resistance movements.

This thesis starts from the premise that Geopolitics is performative, an iterative discourse “of visualising global space…reproduced in the governing principles of geographic thought and through the practices of statecraft” (Agnew 1998:11). During the last decade, two dominant discourses have shaped the contemporary geopolitical imagination – the ‘war on terror’ and ‘climate change’. These have steered conceptualisations of security and insecurity - performative iterations of who, where, and what poses a threat. The resulting geopolitical picture of the world has enabled the legitimisation of human and geographical domination – an acceptance of geographical norms that enable the continuation of uneven geographies. The research is concerned with the performative spaces of alternative geopolitics; spaces that emerge where nonviolent social movement activism and geopolitics intersect and the sites through which these are practiced and mediated. The motivations are twofold. The first is a desire to intervene in a critical geopolitical discourse that remains biased toward engagement with violent geographies. The second is to take seriously ‘geopolitics from below’, alternative geographical imaginations. I address the first of these through research that is concerned primarily with the spacing of nonviolence – the performed and performative spaces of nonviolent geographies shaped through a politics of the act. The second is approached through substantial empirical engagement with social movement activists and sites of contention and creation in opposition to dominant environmental geopolitics. ‘Militant’ ethnographic research took place over six months in 2009. It traced the journeys of two groups as they organised for, and took part in, large counter-summit mobilisations. The first was a UK based social movement, the Camp for Climate Action (UK). The second was an intercontinental caravan, the Trade to Climate Caravan. Both groups shared a common aim – to converge on the 16th of December in a mass demonstration of nonviolent confrontation; the ‘People’s Assembly’, to contest dominant discourses being performed inside the intergovernmental United Nations Conference of the Parties 15. Social movement groups from around the world would present alternative narratives of insecurity and offer ‘alternative solutions’ garnered through non-hierarchical forms of decision-making. The research followed the route each group took to the People’s Assembly and the articulations (narrative and practices) of nonviolent action.

This essay aims to begin to fill a potential gap in previous research when it comes to studying the political content of specific cultural practices, in this case the Freedom Theatre in Jenin. The theatre expressively refers to itself as a political theatre, calling themselves freedom fighters and places itself at the forefront of they call "cultural resistance". The creation of this cultural resistance is investigated here. This essay aims to explores, through examining the theatre's methods of practice, how cultural resistance could be transformed into political action and what problems that may hinder their political aspirations from becoming a true potential for political influence. The essay concludes that the theatre uses identity and narrative for political purposes in order to unite and strengthen the Palestinian collective identity, creating a civil resistance towards the Israeli occupation. This is however not an unproblematic process, and many of the same problems facing other nonviolent resistance movements are also present within the theatre. / Minor Field Studies, SIDA

This study aims to investigate how two forms of non-violent campaigns, one run by unionsand one without, have arisen. It is investigated by analyzing the mobilization processes of the two campaigns. The materials used in this study is the theoretical framework of Resource Mobilization Theory’s five resource mobilization categories. It was used as an alternative way to examine how and understand why the two movements turned out to be so different, where one was a labor movement and the other were not. The method used was a qualitative comparative case study. Through the comparison the study could identify some differences between the two movements campaigns. Through the comparison, the study was able to identify certain differences between the two movement campaigns. On the one hand, the scope and network of the campaigns were important for their emergence, and on the otherhand, the temporal context was important for the mobilizations of the cases.

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[ES] Este trabajo de investigación trata de explorar y comprender la situación que se vive en Palestina de la mano de algunas de sus protagonistas, mujeres activistas y comprometidas que con su vida cotidiana luchan y resisten a una injusta ocupación y colonización llevada a cabo por el Estado de Israel. Desde un posicionamiento epistemológico activista y feminista me acercaré a ellas, a sus prácticas y a sus discursos, con el fin de entender, en primer lugar, qué tipo de violencias experimentan sus vidas y qué herramientas y tecnologías utiliza el Estado israelí para construir un aparato neocolonial racista y violento que deshumaniza las vidas palestinas. Pero también trataré de averiguar cómo hacen frente estas mujeres a todas estas violencias. Aprenderé de sus discursos decoloniales a deconstruir la imagen islamófoba que ha construido Occidente sobre las mujeres musulmanas con hiyab, supuestamente víctimas y sumisas; y analizaré sus prácticas de lucha y resistencia, comprendiendo que la no-violencia y la solidaridad internacionalista feminista son el camino hacia la rehumanización de las, en palabras de Butler, vidas que no merecen ser lloradas. / [CA] Aquest treball de recerca tracta d'explorar i comprendre la situació que es viu en Palestina de la mà d'algunes de les seues protagonistes, dones activistes i compromeses que amb la seua vida quotidiana lluiten i resisteixen a una injusta ocupació i colonització duta a terme per l'Estat d'Israel. Des d'un posicionament epistemològic activista i feminista m'acostaré a elles, a les seues pràctiques i als seus discursos, amb la finalitat d'entendre, en primer lloc, quin tipus de violències experimenten les seues vides i quines eines i tecnologies utilitza l'Estat israelià per a construir un aparell neocolonial racista i violent que deshumanitza les vides palestines. Però també tractaré d'esbrinar com fan front aquestes dones a totes aquestes violències. Aprendré dels seus discursos decolonials a desconstruir l'imatge islamòfoba que ha construït Occident sobre les dones musulmanes amb hijab, suposadament víctimes i submises; i analitzaré les seues pràctiques de lluita i resistència, comprenent que la no-violència i la solidaritat internacionalista feminista són el camí cap a la rehumanització de les, en paraules de Butler, vides que no mereixen ser plorades. / [EN] This research work tries to explore and understand the situation that exists in Palestine from some of its protagonists' voices, activist and committed women who, with their daily lives, fight and resist an unjust occupation and colonization carried out by the State of Israel. From an activist and feminist epistemological position, I will approach them, their practices and their discourses, in order to understand, in the first place, what kind of violence are their lives experience and what tools and technologies the Israeli State uses to build a neocolonial, racist and violent apparatus that dehumanizes Palestinian lives. But I will also try to find out how these women face all this violence. I will learn from her decolonial speeches to deconstruct the Islamophobic image that the West has built on Muslim women with hijab, supposedly victims and submissive; and I will analyze their practices of struggle and resistance, understanding that non-violence and feminist internationalist solidarity are the ways to rehumanize those, in Butler's words, lives that do not deserve to be mourned. / Fuente Espinosa, MTDL. (2022). Ellas "enseñan vida": experiencias de lucha y resistencia de las mujeres palestinas. Un análisis desde la solidaridad feminista internacionalista [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/182384

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / This thesis contributes to existing literature on violent and peaceful societies generally, and more specifically contributes to debates on gender egalitarian societies within the fields of Peace, Gender and Indigenous Studies, by focusing on the KhoeSan, and KhoeSan women especially. This research project focused on two critically intersectional components: (1) reconstructing knowledge in general and reclaiming indigenous knowledge, from an African feminist perspective; and (2) analysing and reclaiming peaceful societies and the notion of nonviolence as a norm. Inextricably tied to these primary research questions, is the issue of gender, and gender egalitarianism, especially as it relates to women. An interdisciplinary, intersectional approach was used, combining the analytical lenses of the fields of Political Science (Peace Studies), Anthropology and Gender Studies, with some attention to cultures and spiritualities. The participatory methods employed include focus group discussions and unstructured interviews with KhoeSan community leaders, especially women elders. Concrete skills exchange with, and support for, the participating communities was consciously facilitated. Scholarship on, as well as practices of, the Khoesan evince normative nonviolence, as well as gender egalitarianism. These ancient norms and practices are still evident in modern KhoeSan oral history and practice. This thesis sets the following precedents, particularly through the standpoint of a female KhoeSan scholar: (a) contributing to the research on peaceful societies by offering an analysis of the KhoeSan’s nonviolence as a norm; (b) and extending scholarship on gender egalitarian societies to the KhoeSan. Further research in these intersecting areas would be invaluable, especially of peacefulness, social egalitarianism and collective leadership, as well as gender egalitarianism, among the KhoeSan. Broadening research to encompass Southern Africa as a region would significantly aid documentation.