Alex Khasnabish – författare

On January 1, 1994 in the far southeast of Mexico, a guerrilla army of indigenous Mayan peasants calling itself the Zapatista Army of National Liberation rose up in rebellion against 500 years of colonialism, imperialism, genocide, racism, and neoliberal capitalism. Zapatismo Beyond Borders examines how Zapatismo, the political philosophy of the Zapatistas, crossed the regional and national boundaries of the isolated indigenous communities of Chiapas to influence diverse communities of North American activists.Providing readers with anthropological perspectives that draw on a year of fieldwork with activists, and also enriched by the author's own experience with contemporary social justice struggles, Alex Khasnabish examines the "transnational resonance" of the Zapatista movement. He shows how the spread of Zapatismo has unexpectedly produced new imaginations and practices of radical political action in diverse socio-political movements throughout North America. Zapatismo Beyond Borders is an engaging study of a radical political philosophy that has been both a model for grassroots organizations and a rallying call for members of the anti-globalization movement. Rigorous and engaged, this will be of interest to anyone interested in indigenous rights movements, political philosophy, and the recent history of political activism.

On January 1, 1994 in the far southeast of Mexico, a guerrilla army of indigenous Mayan peasants calling itself the Zapatista Army of National Liberation rose up in rebellion against 500 years of colonialism, imperialism, genocide, racism, and neoliberal capitalism. Zapatismo Beyond Borders examines how Zapatismo, the political philosophy of the Zapatistas, crossed the regional and national boundaries of the isolated indigenous communities of Chiapas to influence diverse communities of North American activists.Providing readers with anthropological perspectives that draw on a year of fieldwork with activists, and also enriched by the author's own experience with contemporary social justice struggles, Alex Khasnabish examines the "transnational resonance" of the Zapatista movement. He shows how the spread of Zapatismo has unexpectedly produced new imaginations and practices of radical political action in diverse socio-political movements throughout North America. Zapatismo Beyond Borders is an engaging study of a radical political philosophy that has been both a model for grassroots organizations and a rallying call for members of the anti-globalization movement. Rigorous and engaged, this will be of interest to anyone interested in indigenous rights movements, political philosophy, and the recent history of political activism.

Insurgent Encounters illuminates the dynamics of contemporary transnational social movements, including those advocating for women and indigenous groups, environmental justice, and alternative-cooperative rather than exploitative-forms of globalization. The contributors are politically engaged scholars working within the social movements they analyze. Their essays are both models of and arguments for activist ethnography. They demonstrate that such a methodology has the potential to reveal empirical issues and generate theoretical insights beyond the reach of traditional social-movement research methods. Activist ethnographers not only produce new understandings of contemporary forms of collective action, but also seek to contribute to struggles for social change. The editors suggest networks and spaces of encounter as the most useful conceptual rubrics for understanding shape-shifting social movements using digital and online technologies to produce innovative forms of political organization across local, regional, national, and transnational scales. A major rethinking of the practice and purpose of ethnography, Insurgent Encounters challenges dominant understandings of social transformation, political possibility, knowledge production, and the relation between intellectual labor and sociopolitical activism.Contributors. Giuseppe Caruso, Maribel Casas-CortÉs, Janet Conway, StÉphane Couture, Vinci Daro, Manisha Desai, Sylvia EscÁrcega, David Hess, Jeffrey S. Juris, Alex Khasnabish, Lorenzo Mosca, Michal Osterweil, Geoffrey Pleyers, Dana E. Powell, Paul Routledge, M. K. Sterpka, Tish Stringer

Insurgent Encounters illuminates the dynamics of contemporary transnational social movements, including those advocating for women and indigenous groups, environmental justice, and alternative-cooperative rather than exploitative-forms of globalization. The contributors are politically engaged scholars working within the social movements they analyze. Their essays are both models of and arguments for activist ethnography. They demonstrate that such a methodology has the potential to reveal empirical issues and generate theoretical insights beyond the reach of traditional social-movement research methods. Activist ethnographers not only produce new understandings of contemporary forms of collective action, but also seek to contribute to struggles for social change. The editors suggest networks and spaces of encounter as the most useful conceptual rubrics for understanding shape-shifting social movements using digital and online technologies to produce innovative forms of political organization across local, regional, national, and transnational scales. A major rethinking of the practice and purpose of ethnography, Insurgent Encounters challenges dominant understandings of social transformation, political possibility, knowledge production, and the relation between intellectual labor and sociopolitical activism.Contributors. Giuseppe Caruso, Maribel Casas-CortÉs, Janet Conway, StÉphane Couture, Vinci Daro, Manisha Desai, Sylvia EscÁrcega, David Hess, Jeffrey S. Juris, Alex Khasnabish, Lorenzo Mosca, Michal Osterweil, Geoffrey Pleyers, Dana E. Powell, Paul Routledge, M. K. Sterpka, Tish Stringer

Grounded in the sister disciplines of sociology and anthropology, this textbook is an accessible and critical introduction to contemporary social research. Alex Khasnabish eschews the common disciplinary silos in favour of an integrated approach to understanding and practising critical social research. Situated in the North American context, the text draws on cross-cultural examples to give readers a clear sense of the diversity in human social relations. It is organized thematically in a way that introduces readers to the core areas of social research and social organization and takes an unapologetically radical approach in identifying the relations of oppression and exploitation that give rise to what most corporate textbooks euphemistically identify as “social problems.” Focusing on key dynamics and processes at the heart of so many contemporary issues and public conversations, this text highlights the ways in which critical social research can contribute to exploring, understanding and forging alternatives to an increasingly bankrupt, violent, unstable and unjust status quo.