Researching the Case Studies

I have spent the last three weeks conducting two major research. The first focuses on local case studies in the United States of how Black and people of color defend policy changes, while the second focuses on case studies of land struggle in other parts of the world. So far, the resources I’m working on revolve around three papers that focus on the practicalities of how movements win / transform policy, rather than conceptual/foundational thinkers who shape how they act.

The first two papers are about movement in Jackson and a city in the northern United States.  Kali Akuno and Ajamu Nangwaya wrote about these two movements in their book Jackson Rising, which outlines their ongoing work in Jackson. The other is a qualitative and in-depth study conducted by Alexandra Pineros in an organization known as HAKI and how they shifted their approach from confrontation to more cooperation and relational. The other source is a journal written by Alief Fathoni and Nur Sardini, two Indonesians, about the land struggle against gentrification in Jakarta, as well as some approaches in a paper written by Diana Mitlin about negotiations and strategies in various cities, particularly in the Global South. 

These papers are conceptually in conversation with some sources I came across during my tutorial, such as Gianpaolo Baiocchi’s Methodological Utopianism and David Harvey’s rebel cities. Both of these sources lay out the issues with massive urbanization that tend to displace people, as well as feasible alternatives to it (Baiocchi) in the form of movements that can win policy campaigns.

Overall, this research is just a beginning. In the coming weeks, I will add more sources to supplement these case studies, such as a literature review and two additional case studies. However, these four sources provide insight into how I conduct research to assist Right to the City practically in supplying material for their organizing strategies, as well as how I frame their effort in compiling these materials to continually improve their organizing strategies in my own research project. These sources are critical for my research question, which focuses on RTTC’s organizational strategies and how they can be improved. By reviewing the case studies, I will be able to apply the lessons learned to improve RTTC’s organizing strategies, particularly by providing these lesson learned papers to grassroots organizers.

I will also add more sources and connect these sources to a broader debate on movement and strategies, so that the case studies do not stand alone, but are part of a larger discussion about the importance of these working strategies. Through this approach, I hope to create a framework that is simple to understand for organizers in the United States, so that even if the case is not based in the United States, they can still engage with the case study as part of a larger urban movement conversation.

 

Sources:

Akuno, Kali, and Ajamu Nangwayam. Jackson Rising: The Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-Determination in Jackson Mississippi. Daraja Press, 2017

Shields, Alexandra Pineros. “Midwife for Power: Towards a Mujerista/Womanist Model of Community Organizing.” UTS ePress, 14(2), December 2021.

Mitlin, Diana. “Beyond Contention: Urban Social Movement and Their Multiple Approaches to Secure Transformation.” International Institute for Environment and Development, 30(2), October 2018.

Fathoni, Alif., Sardini, Nur. “Perlawanan Masyarakat Luar Batang Jakarta terhadap Kebijakan Revitalisasi Kawasan Pesisir pada Tahun 2016.” Journal of Politics and Government Studies, 6(03), 1-10, 2017.