Featured image for “What can we learn from 200 case studies of ’emergent agency in a time of Covid’?”

What can we learn from 200 case studies of ’emergent agency in a time of Covid’?

March 17, 2021
The ‘Emergent Agency in a Time of Covid-19‘ research project is churning out some interesting findings and a flurry of webinars. Here Niranjan Nampoothiri and Filippo Artuso give some headline findings on the 200 case studies Niranjan has analysed and coded. We aim to publish the database later this year. Niranjan will present his findings on 6th April, 12.30 UTC
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Africa’s Land Rush – what do we really know?

March 15, 2021
Guest post by Wytske Chamberlain and Wegayehu Fitawek of Land Matrix Africa, hosted by the University of Pretoria  Remember the global riots over food set off by sharp spikes in commodity prices in 2008? The biofuel hype as THE solution to dirty oil? And the financial crisis that drove investors to look for alternative assets to invest their dollars, euros
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How a Women’s Organization became ‘chief architects’ of the COVID-19 response in Southern India

March 1, 2021
Guest post by Aysha Shamsuddin We live in times where solidarity has emerged as more critical than anything else. Not even a day goes by without coming across some extraordinary stories of solidarity and leadership. I would like to discuss one such story of a women’s solidarity network- Kudumbashree from Kerala, a small state in southern India. Kudumbashree means ‘prosperity
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Featured image for “Watching the ICC Judgement of LRA commander Dominic Ongwen with Ugandan victims of enforced marriage”

Watching the ICC Judgement of LRA commander Dominic Ongwen with Ugandan victims of enforced marriage

February 24, 2021
This piece by Jackline Atingo is an edited version of a post first published on the Africa at LSE blog The conviction of Lord’s Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity has been met with mixed reactions in northern Uganda, where many survivors live today. Jackline Atingo watched the Judgement
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Three dreams we must dream when writing Chile’s new constitution

February 2, 2021
In October 2020, Chileans voted overwhelmingly to create a new constitution. If Chileans are to capitalise on this historic opportunity, says Maria Carrasco, an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity at LSE, they must dare to dream of bold new ways to address their problems and guide our institutions. That includes focusing on the environment, happiness and economies of
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The dangers of “policy-sising” social change

January 19, 2021
Christopher Choong Weng Wai is the Deputy Director of Research at Khazanah Research Institute in Malaysia and an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity at the International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics. His research interest is in the everyday reproduction of poverty, inequalities and exclusion. He tweets at @chrischoongww. For those of us who work on public policy
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Featured image for “You can’t rethink humanitarianism without also rethinking the money. Here’s one way to do it.”

You can’t rethink humanitarianism without also rethinking the money. Here’s one way to do it.

December 11, 2020
I have a confession to make. I don’t listen to podcasts, even though I inflict them on others. When I’m at my desk, I’m much happier skimming documents (using my mad speed reading skills). If I’m out and about, I hate having something jabbering away in my ears. But my resolve is being sorely tested by the new series on
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#PowerShifts Resources: The Virus of Gender-Based Violence

November 25, 2020
Maria Faciolince introduces one of her amazing resource lists. 25 November is the International Day to End Violence against Women, kicking off #16DaysofActivism. Once considered a private issue pertaining to ‘family matters’, now it is largely recognized as part of large-scale social issues and systemic oppressions. But to make sense of this day, we have to extend our gaze beyond
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Featured image for “Initial Findings on Emergent Agency in a time of Covid – launch webinar and briefing”

Initial Findings on Emergent Agency in a time of Covid – launch webinar and briefing

November 6, 2020
In September we kicked off a really interesting project on ‘Emergent Agency in a Time of Covid’, asking people if they wanted to be part of a collective effort to share and discuss the grassroots responses to the pandemic and start to explore their longer-term legacy. The response was encouraging (even a bit overwhelming!), and we’ve spent the last couple
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Lest we forget: Why investments in hygiene, sanitation and water are key to fighting COVID-19

September 28, 2020
Guest post by Muyatwa Sitali, Head of Country Engagement, Sanitation and Water for All COVID-19 has taught us that a world where nearly half of its population do not have what they need to properly wash their hands at critical times is not a safe world. We are delicately and dangerously connected. A disease which started in one city has
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Feminist solidarity networks have multiplied since the COVID-19 outbreak in Mexico

September 24, 2020
Last up in this short series of ’emergent agency’ case studies from the Interface Journal. María Jose Ventura Alfaro describes how independent feminist collectives in Mexico have created solidarity networks across the country to tackle the gravest socioeconomic consequences of the virus at the local level: shortages of food, medicine, and other essential products and an upsurge in domestic and
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‘Anti-domestic violence little vaccine’: A Wuhan-based feminist activist campaign during COVID-19

September 23, 2020
Hongwei Bao argues that rather than seeing the pandemic as an obstacle to social movements, it can be a good opportunity to experiment with flexible and creative modes of social and political activism. This piece is a shortened version of a paper in the Interface Journal. From January to April, many Chinese cities including Wuhan were locked down in a
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