Collective Revolution: An Examination of Intentional Communities
My independent thesis is an examination of contemporary Christian intentional communities in the ... more My independent thesis is an examination of contemporary Christian intentional communities in the United States. Throughout this project, I attempted to form criteria for what a normative intentional community would be and how it would function. I explored leadership styles, decision making procedures, outreach programs, and spiritual life among other factors in such communities. I also provided a context for my paper by explaining how intentional communities exist in contrast to the prevailing value of individualism in American society. By examining a short history of intentional communities, I was able to find some basic uniting principles that have been proven to work in such communities. Once I had a firm grasp on the dynamics of a normative community, I applied this model to three communities that I visited. This application gave me a chance to test my model and see how the communities measured up against it. Throughout the course of this project, it has been my conviction that one of the reasons that intentional communities are so vital to our society is that they represent a vein of revolutionary thinking in terms of religion and society. In the realm of theology, life in intentional communities represents a revolutionary shift towards attempting to radically follow the calls of the prophets and the teachings of Jesus. In the realm of society, intentional communities represent a revolutionary preference for communal life in a world that worships individuality and pursuit of personal gain
The Art of Nonviolence: The Adaptations and Improvisations of Occupy Wall Street
Occupying Political Science, 2013
I taught Introduction to Peace and Justice Studies for the first time at Pace University in the s... more I taught Introduction to Peace and Justice Studies for the first time at Pace University in the spring of 2011. One unit of the class explored nonviolence and I asked students to imagine how they might use nonviolent direct action to express discontent. They dutifully studied Gene Sharp’s list of 198 techniques and read selections by Gandhi. In the classroom they were studious but vague, respectful but disengaged. I repeated the activity a year later with a new group of peace and justice studies students in the spring of 2012. Within 15 minutes, the students dug in and I found myself laughing as I stood, cleverly locked out of my own classroom, as my students playfully “occupied” it with slogans, songs, cartoons, barricades, and petitions. Perhaps I had become a better professor with a year’s worth of experience behind me. But I suspect that the real teacher lay a few blocks away in Zuccotti Park and the Occupy Wall Street Movement.
Political, social and economic shifts in humanitarian responses to disasters have increased the p... more Political, social and economic shifts in humanitarian responses to disasters have increased the prominence of short-term volunteers, often working through small, informal and non-governmental channels. Such volunteers offer the potential for a "surge" capacity in crises but are also often under-regulated, poorly trained and know little about the people they claim to help. In this chapter, we first draw on social theorists like Zygmunt Bauman and Michel Agier to argue that this represents a form of neo-liberal-"liquid"-governance that offers only fleeting, fragmented and privatized solutions to collective problems. However, we temper this critique with a review of the literature on short-term "voluntourism" that shows it can have an important pedagogical role, priming volunteers to engage in more long-term solidarity with people in distress. To illustrate our argument, we use ethnographic and participant observation research conducted in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. We show the flaws of many short-term volunteer programs but also highlight efforts to manage them responsibly, as an attempt to cultivate an ethic of solidarity with marginalized communities. We conclude with a list of good practices for leaders of short-term volunteer programs in humanitarian crises.
Religious Advocacy and Activism for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
Global Activism and Humanitarian Disarmament, 2019
Religious leaders can act as norm-builders in global policymaking due to their prominence in civi... more Religious leaders can act as norm-builders in global policymaking due to their prominence in civil society and their access to social capital. This role is reflected in the preamble to the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which is unique in acknowledging religious leaders in its preamble. The authors argue while the role of religion in international diplomacy is often ignored, the formal recognition of the role of religion in the TPNW reflects a long and ongoing history of faith-based action on nuclear disarmament. The chapter focuses on the role of religious groups in the TPNW’s negotiations, including advocacy with the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), and the diplomatic efforts of the Holy See.
Occupy Wall Street as a Palimpsest: Overview of a Dynamic Movement
Occupying Political Science, 2013
""With co-authors, Emily Welty and Nick Zukowski, we describe Occupy Wall Street in New... more ""With co-authors, Emily Welty and Nick Zukowski, we describe Occupy Wall Street in New York City as a highly diffuse and complex organization. We show that OWS resists easy classification into simple organizational ideal types and suggest instead the loose metaphor of a “palimpsest”—a document with multiple layers of overlapping, interrelating, and clashing text. Another way OWS has confounded traditional understandings of social movements is in its apparent lack of demands..""
Occupy Wall Street as a Palimpsest: Overview of a Dynamic Movement more
""With co-authors, Emily Welty and Nick Zukowski, we describe Occupy Wall Street in New... more ""With co-authors, Emily Welty and Nick Zukowski, we describe Occupy Wall Street in New York City as a highly diffuse and complex organization. We show that OWS resists easy classification into simple organizational ideal types and suggest instead the loose metaphor of a “palimpsest”—a document with multiple layers of overlapping, interrelating, and clashing text. Another way OWS has confounded traditional understandings of social movements is in its apparent lack of demands.."" ... Thank you! Your feedback has been sent.
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Papers by Emily Welty