call for proposals: movement building in Appalachia

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

From: "Stephen Fisher" <slfisher44 at embarqmail.com>


*Call for Proposals*

We are soliciting proposals for essays to be included in a book we are 
editing on the role of movement-building, networking and 
coalition-building as elements of citizen resistance in Appalachia.

We see this book as building in part upon the lessons learned from the 
essays in Fisher’s /Fighting Back in Appalachia: Traditions of 
Resistance and Change /(Temple, 1993). Many of these essays illustrate 
the limits of single-issue localized work and describe the success of 
multi-issue, membership-driven organizations that are able to link 
issues to state, national and global patterns and concerns. The book’s 
essays demonstrate the need for a critical discourse and practice that 
can strengthen and link existing regional institutions while creating 
new ones and building coalitions both within and outside the region.

We all should take heart from the impressive number of new books, 
articles, and dissertations written about resistance efforts in the 
region, and applaud and celebrate the valuable social change work that 
has occurred over the past few decades. But during this same period 
corporate-driven globalization has proceeded apace, and neoliberalism 
has triumphed as a political philosophy and practice across many 
nations. In the region, we have not been particularly successful in 
laying the groundwork for a more meaningful and enduring movement or 
network. Indeed, the Southern Empowerment Project and the Commission on 
Religion in Appalachia, two of our more important regional 
organizations, have recently shut their doors. Nor have we figured out 
how to effectively and consistently link our change efforts to similar 
struggles occurring nationally or globally. As one observer remarks, we 
remain more isolated from other poor and working-class populations than 
from the corporate and political forces that oppress us daily. This is 
especially troublesome given that the levers of power available to us 
locally are not sufficient to solve the problems we face.

This is not to say that there haven’t been admirable efforts in the past 
at networking or that there isn’t important coalition work underway 
today in the Appalachian region. We believe there is much to be learned 
from these past and current struggles and that a book of essays 
describing and drawing lessons from some of these efforts would be of 
interest to both an Appalachian and a broader national academic and 
activist audience.

This letter is designed to test the waters, and, of course, the focus 
and direction of the book will be influenced in part by the nature of 
the proposals we receive. But we are especially interested in essays 
that realistically assess the successes and failures of 
movement-building efforts in Appalachia and specifically address one or 
more of the following questions and issues in terms of the organizing 
effort(s) you are analyzing:

(1) What are the most important bases of unity among the people 
involved? What is the role of identity as a basis of unity? Is this a 
social identity—e.g., as women, persons of color, workers, etc.? What, 
if any, is the role of placed-based identity in this organizing? Is the 
notion of an Appalachian identity important in this effort? Why or why not?

(2) How do those involved define what they are organizing to combat? 
Corrupt practices, globalization, capitalism, elite domination, 
environmental destruction, etc.? What alternatives, if any, are being 
offered?

(3) What strengths and weaknesses in the involved constituencies are 
organizers trying to build on or confront, and how are they doing so?

(4) At what level or scale—local, state, regional, etc.—is the 
organizing effort seeking to intervene to effect social change? What are 
the limitations and advantages of organizing at this scale?

(5) Who are seen as natural allies of this movement-building effort? 
What is being done to reach out to those allies and what obstacles 
hinder this outreach?

(6) How is the organizing effort framing the goals it is pursuing? How, 
if at all, is it purposely seeking to counter corporate and right-wing 
ideological power in the framing of its key issues?

(7) How important is it for the organizing effort to create new 
institutions (e.g., cooperatives, land trusts, fair trade, local 
exchange systems….) in which people can act in new ways? How does it see 
the relative effectiveness of new institutional spaces vs. political 
education and persuasion as vehicles for social change?

(8) What specific lessons can be learned about movement-building in 
Appalachia from the experiences of the organizing effort being examined?

As mentioned above, we are interested in receiving analyses of not only 
current movement-building efforts but also past successes and failures. 
We encourage collaborative writing by academics, organizers, and 
activists. We are looking for articles written in a language and style 
that are accessible to as broad and varied an audience as possible.

If interested, please submit to us by June 30 a description (1-2) pages 
of what you propose to do. We envision the following timetable:

June 30: Deadline for proposals (please send an email copy to each of us)

September 1: Selection of proposals; tentative book outline

February 15, 2009: Submission of a first draft

Please pass this information on to others who might be interested in 
contributing an essay to this book. If you have questions or suggestions 
or have trouble making the June 30 deadline, do not hesitate to write or 
call.

Steve Fisher Barbara Ellen Smith, Director

PO Box BBB Women Studies Program (0227)

Emory, VA 24327 Virginia Tech

276/944-3697 Blacksburg, VA 24061

slfisher44 at embarqmail.com <mailto:slfisher44 at embarqmail.com> 540/231-7322

smithbe at vt.edu <mailto:smithbe at vt.edu>