Social Movements and Political Change in Africa:
Shaping Technologies for Change
14-15 June 2012
Venue: Board Room, Library

Thursday 14 June

9 -9.30 am: Registration at workshop venue.

9.30-9.45 am: Welcome: Rachel Ibreck and Ciara McCorley, University of Limerick.

9.45 –11 am:  Social Movement Paradigms and Socially Excluded Groups, Didier Chabanet, European University Institute, and Frédéric Royall, University of Limerick (discussant: Rachel Ibreck, University of Limerick).

11- 11.15 am: Coffee/tea break

11.15 - 12.30 pm: Structure, agency and regime change – a comparative analysis of social actors and regime change in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Ciara McCorley, University of Limerick (discussant Neil Robinson, University of Limerick).

12.30 – 1.45 pm: Lunch

1.45 – 3 pm: Is unemployment a catalyst for collective contentious action in North Africa? Evidence from the Moroccan social movements scene, Montserrat Badimon, Université Lumière-Lyon 2, (discussant Alex de Waal, Tufts University).

3 -3.15 pm: Coffee/tea break

3.15 – 4.30 pm: Possibilities within limitations or limits to the possible? Kenyan social movements and counter-hegemonic struggles to transform an African state through constitutional reforms (1990-2010) Jacob Mwathi Mati, University of Witwatersrand (discussant, Hama Munyikwa, University of Limerick)

Friday 15th June

9.15 – 10.30 am: Protest movements and political change: an analysis of the ‘Arab Uprisings’ of 2011, Vincent Durac, University College Dublin (discussant, Owen Worth, University of Limerick). 

10.30 – 11.45 am: Personal Grievance Sharing, Frame Alignment, and Hybrid Models: The Role of Social Media in the Egyptian Revolution, Sarah Anne Rennick, Lund University (discussant, Sarah Hunt, University of Limerick).

11.45 – 12:00: Coffee/tea break

12 – 1.15 pm: Leveraging New Media: A Human Rights Perspective on Social Movements and Information Communications Technologies, John Lannon, University of Limerick and Edward F Halpin, Leeds Metropolitan University (discussant Ciara McCorley, University of Limerick).

1.15 – 2.30 pm: Lunch

2.30 – 3.45 pm: People, technology and spaces; towards a new generation of social movements Philip Thigo. Social Development Network, Kenya (discussant Tom Lodge, University of Limerick).

3.45 – 4 pm: Coffee/tea break

4 – 4.45 pm: Reflections on ‘shaping technologies for change in Africa’: What have we learned? Alex de Waal, Tufts University.

4.45 – 5 pm: Closing remarks.