45 – Agents of Change: Resistance Movements in South Asia
Resistance movements in contemporary South Asia have always been significant for their role in addressing pressing social and political issues – from bhakti to Quit India, from the Shaheen Bagh protests to the farmers movement, from Indian student protests against caste discrimination to feminist activism in Pakistan or ethnic agitations in Nepal. Movements like these, along with cultural expressions such as protest music and social media campaigns, play a crucial role in challenging injustices and advocating for a more equitable society.
This panel will explore diverse forms of resistance in South Asia, by looking at both historical and contemporary responses to social, political, religious and cultural challenges. We want thus to contribute to an understanding of how individuals and communities have navigated and confronted forms of oppression and injustice or simply expressed their dissent with adverse discourses. What forms of activism are employed? How is resistance framed within certain narratives and how do these narratives feed into general discourses? What methods and tools are used for empowerment, identity formation, and fostering socio-political change? Examples may come from (but are not restricted to) the areas of anti-colonial movements, post-colonial and contemporary movements, feminist an LGBTQ activism, cultural and artistic resistance, or social media and cyber activism.
