Identity politics and social movements

The politics of identity has become one of the most contested topics in contemporary political debate, with social movements often placed at the heart of contemporary polemics and conflicts.  ‘Identity politics’ is a term which is often portrayed in a negative or simplistic way and critics see social movements as the vanguard of attempts to push particular identity agendas on traditional institutions such as states, political parties, or governments. This has led to a highly polarised debate, in which antagonistic politics obscures the realities of social movement activism. This workshop will explore empirically the complex relationship between social movements and identity politics and help disentangle the empirical basis of identity politics from such critical characterisations.

Program:

Monday 27 October (Sala l’Altana, Palazzo Strozzi)

9:30, Welcome

10:00–12:00, Panel 1: Identity politics of the right and the left

● Laia Corxet Solé | SNS 
The Templar Knight: The Mobilization of Identity in the Spanish Online Far-Right Milieu

● Modestos Siotos | Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Radical Left Governments and Social Movements: How Syriza Sustained Legitimacy within the LGBTQ+ Movement during the Tsipras Government (2015–2019)

● Alice Ferro | SNS
Negotiating Identities along a Wave of Environmental Mass Mobilization across Italian Localities

Discussant: Manuela Caiani | SNS

12:00–13:30, Lunch

13:30–15:15, Panel 2: Histories and genealogies of identity politics

● Kesewa John | Goldsmiths, London
People Papers: The Radical Press of the Late Colonial Caribbean

● Anna Correau | ENS-PSL, Paris
Authenticity in Revolt: Youth, Nationhood and Protest in Postcolonial Chad (1968–1975)

● Périne Schir | University of Rouen
Framing Antiracism as Excess: French Intellectuals Against “Woke” Politics

Discussant: Vincent Martigny | Université Côte d'Azur

15:15–15:30, Comfort break

15:30–17:30, Panel 3: Identity politics, gender, and feminism

● Zoe Abrams | University of Oxford 
The Gendering of European Identity Politics: Tracing the Emerging Divide Between Young Men and Women's Support for Contentious Politics

● Greta Rossi | SNS 
What’s in a Name? Fighting Male, Gendered and Patriarchal Violence in Italy from 2007 Until Today

● Carolina Mosquera Vera | University of Warsaw 
Practices of Identification in Abortion Struggles: Symbols and Feminist Identity Politics in Colombia and Poland

Discussant: Anastasia Barone | SNS

20:00, Dinner

Tuesday 28 October (Sala l’Altana, Palazzo Strozzi)

9:00–11:00, Panel 4: Identity politics in practice

● Irina Aguiari | SNS 
Peasants, Farmers, Activists: Weaving Relational Identities within the European Agroecological Movement

● Olivier Filleule | University of Lausanne–CNRS 
Narrative Wars: How Stigma Forged the Yellow Vests’ Identity: Co-construction, Stigmatization, and Pluralistic Resilience of the Yellow Vests Movement

● Stefano Filippini | SNS 
Beyond the Ethno-National Divide: Identity and Solidarity in Northern Ireland’s Pro-Palestinian Movement

Discussant: Timothy Peace | University of Glasgow

11:00–11:15, Comfort break

11:15–12:45, Roundtable: “Identity politics and social movements: an uncomfortable marriage?”

Participants:
Donatella Della Porta | SNS
Christopher Rootes | University of Kent
Olivier Filleule | UNIL–CNRS
Alex Hensby | University of Kent

Chair:  Emile Chabal | University of Edinburgh