From local, situated struggles to trajectories of resistance and prefigurative possibilities at regional, national, and transnational scales, the Activism and Social Movement Studies collection approaches activism and social movements with the aim of accumulating and circulating collective efforts towards dismantling the injustices and myriad violences that sustain oppressive systems towards building a more just, sustainable, and vibrant world. The collection aims to open space to reflect on how identities and subjectivities are forged and refused in relation to situated antagonisms and resistance, including the emergence of collective subjects. How does where we struggle from reflect and shape who we are, and who we are becoming through shared commitments? This collection seeks work that engages struggles against carceral systems, policing, and militarized regimes, struggles for queer and trans lives and trans feminist movements, Indigenous struggles in defense of land, water, territory, and life, as well as racial and gender justice struggles, health and disability rights, anti-eviction and housing struggles, migration and food sovereignty/sustainability, struggles that center art and creative practices, to name a few. It also celebrates more recent mobilizations such as societies in movement not necessarily limited to social movements seeking recognition and or inclusion.

We are interested in a variety of methodological approaches and textual forms, including feminist and militant research, participatory action research, narrative and ethnographic approaches as well as forms of investigation that take seriously collective knowledge production “from below,” and the recognition and circulation of insurgent, subversive, disqualified knowledges, including as counter-knowledges. Attuned to both historical and contemporary lived experiences of participation in local struggles, we celebrate struggles unfolding in a range of sites and spaces—from college campuses and encampments, to grassroots spaces that might include the streets, rural and Indigenous communities, barrios and town squares, spaces of assembly and direct action, spaces of horizontal action and decision-making, and so on. Guided by commitments to center voices and experiences that have been historically excluded from mainstream academic texts, especially those currently engaged in grassroots activism in new social movements, this collection seeks to pose several collective questions—in documenting and reflecting on forms of knowledge production and strategies of resistance emerging from within our spaces of resistance, how might we circulate and weave struggles more broadly, across local and global contexts? How might this work make visible solidarities while catalyzing engagement and empathy across worlds? How might an archive of struggles point us to a livable future that everyone can claim?

My role as editor will vary depending on the experience and needs of authors. For new authors, I will be available for idea development, coaching, support, and orientation to the process of academic writing for course curriculum; for more experienced writers our role will be more hands-off and will check progress and review drafts as needed.