Learning in social movements: Emotion, identity and Egyptian diaspora becoming ‘logically and emotionally invested’ in the continuing struggle

Author:  Helen Underhill
Manchester Metropolitan University

Edition: Volume 59, Number 3, November 2019

Introduction: This article explores the implications of learning in social movements on diaspora activists’ engagement with struggle. Focussing on emotions within social movement learning and the connection to activists’ multiple identities, the paper examines the complex terrain of learning as embodied and rooted in emotionally situated beliefs and values. The theoretical framework that informs this enquiry brings diaspora and identity into conversation with emotions in social movement learning and Boler’s ‘Pedagogy of discomfort’. Developing these connections contributes a new approach to understanding the emotional dynamics of activism and the implications of learning in this context on social movement participation. Based on qualitative research with diasporic accounts of participating in activism related to the continuing Egyptian revolution, the analysis contributes a deeper understanding of how learning in struggle shapes multiple forms of connectedness and the implications learning in this context can have for activists’ engagement with struggle. The findings add to existing knowledge of learning in social movements through a framework where cognition and emotion are ‘inextricably linked’ (Boler, 1999, p. xix) and to diaspora studies by highlighting that engagement is underpinned by situated and embodied identities that shape possibilities for learning.

Keywords: social movement learning, activism, emotion, diaspora, identity

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 59:3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.