Activist Pedagogies and Transnational Knowledge Production
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Learning Solidarity: Activist pedagogies and transnational knowledge production in Cuban and Iranian diasporic democracy movements A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education by Susan Elizabeth McKibben 2014 © Copyright by Susan Elizabeth McKibben 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Learning Solidarity: Activist pedagogies and transnational knowledge production in Cuban and Iranian diasporic democracy movements by Susan Elizabeth McKibben Doctor of Philosophy in Education University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Carlos Alberto Torres, Chair This study critically examines the digital knowledge production of one Iranian and one Cuban diasporic social movement organization in transnational solidarity with democracy movements in Iran and Cuba respectively, with an eye to the (geo)politics of transnational knowledge production. Each organization’s diagnostic and prognostic collective action frames are analyzed as sites of knowledge co-constructed by diasporic social movement actors with counterparts in the homeland country. I use qualitative content analysis of internet and social media texts (including websites, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter) to identify each organization’s diagnostic and prognostic frames, as well as whether and how knowledge produced by homeland activists is deployed to construct these frames. Interviews with organization members elicit these activsts’ understanding of their role(s) as solidarity activists and their perceptions of the appropriate relationship between a solidarity movement in diaspora and the homeland movement(s) it endeavors ii to support. The effects of geopolitical power relations between homeland (Iranian/Cuban) and U.S.- based diaspora activists on the frames were analyzed using Kaplan and Grewal’s Transnational Feminist Cultural Studies approach, which centers the (geo)politics of knowledge inherent in the relationship between homeland and diaspora activists. Based on the knowledge production practices observed in the case study organizations, I reframe the structure of transnational technologically-connected social movement networks as learning networks in which social movement actors learn, produce knowledge, and teach. I offer the term “activist pedagogies” to describe how social movement actors engage in these processes based on their self-perceived role in the social movement network(s) in which they are embedded, a role derived from their goals, audience, geopolitical context, and relationship to the movement with which they are in solidarity. I then propose a typology of four activist pedagogies, including how such pedagogies may be used to enact (or not) truly liberatory and critical teaching, learning, and knowledge production in transnational social movements. iii The dissertation of Susan Elizabeth McKibben is approved. Douglas M. Kellner Val D. Rust Nayereh E. Tohidi Carlos A. Torres, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2014 iv DEDICATIONS I am most grateful to my family—Sally McKibben (of blessed memory), John McKibben, and Emily McKibben—who have been my most stalwart and vocal encouragers throughout this process. I am grateful to the activists whom I interviewed for this study, for their willingness to share their time, their work, and their trust with me. I am grateful to the members of my committee—Carlos Torres, Doug Kellner, Val Rust, and Nayereh Tohidi—for nurturing me as a scholar, providing valuable guidance in the development of my project, and advising me throughout my research and writing. I am grateful to many friends for their thoughtful feedback on my writing, especially Erin Brown, Ines Sachetti, Amy Pojar, Liz Redman, Christine Malsbury, Netta Avineri, Mollie Applegate, Adriana Arcia, Adriana Baranello, Imge Ackakaya, and Linzi Juliano. I am deeply grateful to Tanya Brown and company for sage advice and much-needed cheerleading through the long process of completing a dissertation. I am grateful to Sara Zare, Daniel Dominguez Vallas, Michael Sukop, and the Arcia family for vital logistical help (and Sunday dinners) during the research process. Finally, I am tremendously grateful to everyone who took such good care of my daughter while I wrote: John McKibben, Marcia Fletcher, Emily McKibben, Greg Morgan, Janet Ogilby, and Renee and Aubrey. It is literally true that I could not have done this without you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..1 Statement of the Problem…………………………………………………………………..1 Informal learning in social movements……………………………………………..2 Knowledge production in social movements………………………………………3 Sources of knowledge in social movements………………...………………………3 What is ‘homeland-produced’ or ‘diaspora’ knowledge?.....…………………………6 Identity and the status of the knower……………………………………………….6 The politics of knowledge and the power dynamics of transnational solidarity……..8 Research Questions……………………………………………………………………….11 Collective Action Framing……………………………………………………….................12 Framing and the challenge of transnational solidarity……………………………………...14 Why Iran and Cuba?.......…………………………………………………………………..16 Challenges of Researching Activism………………………………………………………18 Chapter 2: Study Design and Research Methods……………………………………………...22 Study Design……………………………………………………………………………...22 Research Questions……………………………………………………………………….22 Case Selection……………………………………………………………………………..24 Data Collection …………………………………………………………………………...28 Data Analysis…………...…………………………………………………………………34 Organization of the Dissertation…………………………………………………………..40 Chapter 3: Adelante: a Cuban American case study…………………………………………..41 Dissidence in Cuba and the Cuban Community in the United States...…………………….41 The Cuban Exile Community in the United States and U.S.-Cuba Relations...…………….48 vi Case Study Organization: Adelante………………………...……………………………….52 Adelante’s Framing and Activism………………...………………………………....55 Analysis of Framing and Homeland-Produced Knowledge during Pope Benedict XVI’s Visit to Cuba….………………………...………………………………......66 Preliminary Conclusions…………………………………………………………………..99 Chapter 4: Doostaan-e Demokrasy: an Iranian American case study………………………101 Collective action frames in historical Iranian social movements...…...……………………101 The Iranian Diaspora and Iran’s Politics………………...........................................................107 The 2009 Iranian Presidential Elections and the Green Movement……………….............112 Setting the stage for internet use after the 2009 election…………………………115 Activist Uses of ICTs After the Election………………………………………...117 The diaspora, the Green Movement, and ICTs………………………………….119 Doostaan-e Demokrasy and Solidarity in Cyber-space…..…………………………………...121 Doostaan-e Demokrasy’s Framing of its Cause……...………………………………126 Preliminary Conclusions…………………………………………………………………139 Chapter 5: Conclusions………………………………………………………………………...140 Social Movement Networks as Learning Networks………………………………………140 Cross-case Analysis……..………………………………………………………………..144 Diagnostic and Prognostic Frames Used….……………………………………...144 Homeland-produced knowledge and frame construction…….…………………..145 The politics of knowledge and solidarity: the diaspora/homeland relationship …..147 Geopolitical Context and the Homeland/Diaspora Movement Relationship…….149 Geopolitics, global discourses, and the production of knowledge about democracy.............................................................................................................................151 vii Toward a Typology of Activist Pedagogies in Social Movement Learning Networks…….152 What difference does transnational learning make? ……………………………………...164 Limitations of the Study ………………………………………………………………...166 Significance for the Field………………………………………………………………...167 Directions for Future Research…………………………………………………………..168 Appendix………………………………………………………………………………………..169 Code indexes…………...………………………………………………………………...169 Reference List…………………………………………………………………………………..170 viii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1. Data Collection Timeline………………………………………………………...29 Table 2. Frequency of Themes in Doostaan-e Demokrasy texts…………………………129 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research for this dissertation, as well as my final year of writing, were funded, in part, by the Graduate Division of the University of California, Los Angeles. x VITA 1998 B.A., Literature University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, California 1999-2006 Willmore Urban Agency Long Beach, CA. 2006–2007 Research Associate Center for International and Development Education University of California, Los Angeles 2007 M.A., Education University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, California 2007-2008 Kindergarten teacher American International School System Lahore, Pakistan 2009-2012 Research Assistant Center for the Study of Women University of California, Los Angeles 2011-2012 Graduate Research Mentorship Award Graduate Division University of California, Los Angeles 2012-2013 Dissertation Year Fellowship Graduate Division University of California, Los Angeles PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS Weldon, P. A., Rexhepi, J., Chang, C. W., Jones, L., Layton, L. A., Liu, A., McKibben, S., ... Torres, C. A. (January 01, 2011). Globalization and higher education in Southern California: views from the professoriate. Compare: a Journal of Comparative & International Education, 41, 1. McKibben, S. (November 2010). “Face to face and street to street: The benefits and perils of transnational feminist solidarity: reflections