No description available.

It began with the loss of the use of her forearm, then the use of her other arm, and then her legs. Headaches became severe migraines; seizures occurred. Her body wasted away and she became needle-thin. A neurologist, a psychiatrist, her family physician could not determine what was wrong. A local specialist, however, recognized the symptoms as those he had seen in others over several years. Concerned that the symptoms might be related to environmental toxins, he alerted the local health authorities. His concerns and those of his patients were not taken seriously, not, that is, until he and his patients coined a name for the symptoms: Somatic Chemically Induced Dysfunction Syndrome, or SCIDS. What was expected to be simply a name for a set of symptoms suddenly became contested. A social problem was defined, and experts from Agriculture, Health, and the Environment Ministries entered the fray. Unrelated at first, degradation of the local aquifer, death of wildlife, and a noticeable decrease in small mammals in the area had been noted. Questions were raised about the links between the two; between the environment and health. Somatic Chemically Induced Dysfunction Syndrome (SCIDS) suggested a causal link with chemicals, moreover with chemicals in the environment. This raised doubts in people's minds about the responsibility and accountability of government, and the authority of experts and the role of science was thrown into question. A private trouble became a public issue. The ensuing conflict revolved around naming and owning a social problem. Both experts and persons with SCIDS invoked science to make their case. Sides were drawn and the conflict was played out to the wider public through the media. It has been commented that research about illnesses of the environment have a bias towards the stories of the sufferers. This dissertation focuses mainly, though not exclusively, on the stories of the various experts involved. Set within the wider frame of social constructionism, I address the ways in which private troubles become public issues and are defined as a social problem. The frames used in this contest to wrest both ownership and thus management of the problem are investigated. The impact of this on a local social movement is examined.

The Himalayan region of India has a surprisingly fragile ecosystem due in part to its geomorphic characteristics. In recent years the Himalayan ecosystem has been disturbed in various ways by both human and natural processes. Large developments threaten ecosystems in the area modifying local land use and subsistence patterns. This has important implications for the sustainable livelihoods of the local communities. People in these areas are very concerned about the lack of inclusion in development decision-making processes and the negative effects of development on their livelihood. Protest actions are spreading throughout Himachal Pradesh, not only to stop developments but also to re-shape how developments are taking place. The village of Jagatsukh was selected for in-depth study. That is where people started to organize around the Allain Duhangan Hydro Project and also where the protest actions in relation to the Hydro Project actually started. The overall purpose of this research was to understand the role of protests as a vehicle for public participation in relation to decisions about resources and the environment and to consider whether such movements are learning platforms for action on sustainability.

No description available.

This research examines the revolution of 2010 in Tunisia due to the paucity of empirical research on the subject and to resolve analytical problems that plague research on similar events. The research is based in both the cultural turn in social movement research and the state constructionist theory of revolutions. The methodology employed is a case study which combines a content analysis of an Al Jazeera news program called Al Hassad Al Maghrebi with data from two public opinion surveys conducted in Tunisia shortly after the revolution, and pre-existing academic research. The findings indicate that Al Jazeera did play a role in increasing mobilization against the Ben Ali regime by broadcasting the spread of protests and regime concessions. This was facilitated by the censorship practices of the Ben Ali regime which caused a popular news channel like Al Jazeera to rely purely on opposition sources for its broadcasts.

The Himalayan region of India has a surprisingly fragile ecosystem due in part to its geomorphic characteristics. In recent years the Himalayan ecosystem has been disturbed in various ways by both human and natural processes. Large developments threaten ecosystems in the area modifying local land use and subsistence patterns. This has important implications for the sustainable livelihoods of the local communities. People in these areas are very concerned about the lack of inclusion in development decision-making processes and the negative effects of development on their livelihood. Protest actions are spreading throughout Himachal Pradesh, not only to stop developments but also to re-shape how developments are taking place. The village of Jagatsukh was selected for in-depth study. That is where people started to organize around the Allain Duhangan Hydro Project and also where the protest actions in relation to the Hydro Project actually started. The overall purpose of this research was to understand the role of protests as a vehicle for public participation in relation to decisions about resources and the environment and to consider whether such movements are learning platforms for action on sustainability.

No description available.

In this thesis I explore the significance of the publication of Betty Friedan�s The Feminine Mystique (1963) to the emergence of the second wave Women�s Liberation Movement in the US in the late 1960s. To this end, I deploy key concepts provided through social movement theory (eg collective identity, collective action frames, social problem construction). I also incorporate Max Weber and Antonio Gramsci�s insights on the indispensable role played by leaders who demonstrate a clear and effective political will. Weber�s three part model of pure charisma is used as a general template for understanding the impact of Friedan�s text. I critique aspects of Weber�s theory of charisma, in particular his failure to appreciate that the written word can mark the initial emergence phase of charisma rather than its routinisation. I augment Weber�s insights on charismatic leadership by attending to Gramsci�s emphasis on the necessity of winning the �war of ideas� that must be waged at the level of civil society within advanced capitalist societies. I examine Gramsci�s understanding of the power available to the organic intellectual who is aligned with the interests of subaltern groups and who succeeds in revealing the hegemonic commitments of accepted �common sense�. In the latter part of this thesis, I apply these many useful concepts to my case study analysis of Betty Friedan�s The Feminine Mystique. I argue that Friedan�s accessible, middlebrow text gave birth to a new discursive politics which was critically important not only for older women, but for a younger generation of more radicalised women. I emphasise how Friedan�s text mounted a concerted attack on the discursive construction of femininity under patriarchal capitalism. I question Friedan�s diagnostic claim that the problems American women faced were adequately captured by the terminology of the trapped housewife syndrome. I conclude by arguing that social movement researchers have to date failed to appreciate the leadership potential of the charismatic author-leader who succeeds in addressing and offering a solution to a pressing social problem through the medium of a best-selling, middlebrow text.

The islands of Okinawa have a long history of people’s protest. Much of this has been a manifestation in one way or another of Okinawa’s enforced assimilation into Japan and their differential treatment thereafter. However, it is only in the contemporary period that we find interpretations among academic and popular writers of a collective political movement opposing marginalisation of, and discrimination against, Okinawans. This is most powerfully expressed in the idea of the three ‘waves’ of a post-war ‘Okinawan struggle’ against the US military bases. Yet, since Okinawa’s annexation to Japan in 1879, differences have constantly existed among protest groups over the reasons for and the means by which to protest, and these have only intensified after the reversion to Japanese administration in 1972. This dissertation examines the trajectory of Okinawan protest actors, focusing on the development and nature of internal differences, the origin and survival of the idea of a united ‘Okinawan struggle’, and the implications of these factors for political reform agendas in Okinawa. It explains the internal differences in organisation, strategies and collective identities among the groups in terms of three major priorities in their protest. There are those protesters principally preoccupied with opposing the US-Japan security treaty and for whom the preservation of pacifist clauses of the Constitution and the utilisation of formal legal and political processes are paramount as a modus operandi. There are also those primarily concerned to protect Okinawa’s distinctive lifestyle and natural environment, as well as an assortment of feminist groups fundamentally opposed to the presence of US bases due to concerns about patriarchy and exploitation of women, fostered by militarism. In these last two perspectives, protest tends to be conducted much more via informal, network-oriented processes, and includes engagement with international civil society groups. The increasing range of protest groups derived from the expansion of these last two perspectives, diversifying beyond the traditional workers’ unions and political parties, is consistent with the ‘new social movement’ theory. This theory’s emphasis on the importance of socio economic change for the emergence of groups with post-materialist reform agendas and a stronger predisposition towards informal political processes resonates with the Okinawan experiences. However, the impact of this has been, especially after the reversion in 1972, to hinder effective coalition building among the Okinawan protest groups and organisations, weakening their power to bring about political reforms, particularly towards the removal of the US military bases from the island. Crucially, though, the idea of an ‘Okinawan struggle’ has endured in the community of protest throughout the post-war period. Ideas about marginalisation of, and discrimination against, Okinawans constitute a powerful myth of an ‘Okinawan struggle’, which has a long history of being redefined, used and exploited differently by a wide range of protest actors, adjusted to their particular and historically specific struggles. Indeed, in the event that the US military bases were withdrawn from Okinawa, the ability and appeal of the myth of an ‘Okinawan struggle’ would therefore not necessarily expire, even if it will increasingly be joined by other protest perspectives as a result of the flowering of new social movements.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington. / Page 183 a duplicate of p. 184. Bibliography: l. [183]-188.