ORGANIZE! Solidarity in Theory and Practice

This interdisciplinary seminar explores the history, theory, and practice of grassroots organizing with an emphasis on the US tradition. Often the response to overwhelming systemic injustice—from climate change, to gender-based violence, to labor exploitation, to carceral terror—is to organize. But what is organizing? How is it different from activism or advocacy? What can today’s organizers learn from grassroots social, religious, and political movements of the past? How do organizers navigate conflicts around strategy, leadership, and identity? This course explores these questions and others like them with an emphasis on intersectional feminist, anti-racist, and anti-colonial analysis of power. Students will gain familiarity with classic debates about organizing tactics and processes and analyze how they manifest within local political landscapes.