Which movements of the past inspire you?
Previous movements can give us a sense of what it took to achieve particular kinds of political change. It’s possible to look at these movements from perspectives including community organising, the mobilisation of resources and framing.
This site looks at how movements like these used stories and images to exert cultural power – and how they relied on it.
What would have happened if the political role of stories and images was taken out of the work of movements like these?
The US Civil Rights Movement
The Anti-Apartheid Movement
Gandhi, Indian Independence and Satyagraha
Forthcoming…
As well as more on the topics above, forthcoming case studies will include first wave feminism:
Members of the National Woman’s Party burned copies of President Woodrow Wilson's speeches in front of the White House to dramatise a contrast:
On the one hand, Wilson supported democratic principles in other countries. On the other, he failed to back laws recognising women's right to vote.
Images above:
Selma, 1965: confrontation between police and marchers (Spider Martin / GPA Photo Archive); Civil rights campaigners during the March on Washington, D.C., 1963 (Warren K. Leffler / Library of Congress); Civil rights March on Washington, 1963 (Warren Leffler/ Library of Congress); Anti-apartheid protests in South Africa: 1980s (Islahaddow/ Wikimedia Commons); Troops out of the townships- from Images of Defiance: South African Resistance Posters of the 1980s (South African History Archive, 1991: Ravan Press); Statue of Gandhi in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (Vinoth Chandar); Jawaharlal Nehru (Adapted from image held by Archives New Zealand).
