Mass Atrocity Resistance Research Project: Call for Papers (Edited Volume)
We are inviting contributions to an edited volume on the actors, mechanisms and dimensions of resistance against mass atrocities.
Atrocity prevention research gaps
In both the international policy and research fields of mass atrocity prevention, a strong emphasis on the duty of outsiders to rescue victim groups dominates, whether through political pressure or more forceful economic and military measures. However, the reality of mass atrocities (understood here as large-scale violence against civilians) is that victim groups must usually protect themselves. There is a need to improve our understanding of the strategies threatened groups employ to protect themselves against atrocities, and how these groups may be able to mobilize support domestically or internationally. The ‘Mass Atrocity Resistance’ Project aims to do precisely this by studying resistance strategies from a regional and thematic perspective. Discussions so far in a series of expert online workshops - held between November 2022 and January 2023 – demonstrate that several factors affect the type of strategies that vulnerable populations employ to resist atrocities, and that the viability of certain forms of resistance is largely dependent on contextual circumstances.
In some instances, peaceful protests or communal organization might exert sufficient pressure to end abuses and enable protection. In others, armed resistance or flight might be the only options left for vulnerable populations to ensure survival. Recent attention has also been brought to more subtle forms of resistance. These may include everyday acts of disobedience, such as seeking membership of a specific group to avoid being targeted or raising suspicions of dissidence. Furthermore, and to a great extent due to the efforts by truth commissions, the testimonies of populations in exile and the formation of evidence databases are also increasingly recognized as forms of resistance in themselves, for their role in bringing visibility to ongoing abuses, enabling international support, and ensuring accountability.
Nonetheless, there is still wide disagreement on what may constitute resistance, the legitimacy of non-peaceful approaches, and the appropriate means to measure the effectiveness of certain strategies. Likewise, it has become increasingly evident that resistance strategies may vary significantly depending on timing, making it difficult to identify patterns even within the same region. Adding to this complexity, the proliferation of mass atrocities being committed by non-state actors (particularly prevalent in the Global South) or outside the context of armed conflicts poses a new set of challenges for determining the validity of local responses and allocating protection responsibilities.
Call for Papers
Based on the insights gained from our expert workshop series, we are now inviting contributions for an edited volume to help further pursue these lines of inquiry and to offer new perspectives into the dynamics of resistance against mass atrocities. We welcome contributions that draw on different disciplines or approaches, including, but not limited to, political science, international law, sociology, history, and anthropology.
Authors are encouraged to submit papers that discuss at least one of the following topics:
Actors: Who are the most central actors of resistance in each case? How do identity markers (gender, religion, ethnicity) and group membership influence resistance? What motives do resistance actors have to cooperate with or join a specific group (self-preservation, affinity, religious convictions)? How do resistance options vary when perpetrators are non-state actors?
Strategies: What type of actions constitute resistance to mass atrocities? Are certain strategies more legitimate than others? Is it possible to identify a pattern of resistance strategies across different cases? Is it possible to see resistance strategies to mass atrocities as something distinctive from resistance to human rights abuses or armed conflict? Are the risks of resistance significantly different depending on recent histories of mass atrocities? How can the effectiveness of resistance strategies be measured?
Dimensions: Do resistance strategies change over time, during different phases of a conflict or atrocity escalation? How have resistance options been influenced by regional and global political power shifts, alongside national regime changes? Do resistance options differ in the absence of armed conflict? What effects can international accountability mechanisms have on local resistance movements and the prevention of atrocities? What role do memory and documentation of past abuses play in shaping future resistance strategies?
Timeline and Practical Considerations
Draft submission: Draft papers (4-6000 words) for the workshop should be submitted by 24 April 2023.
Writing Workshop: Selected authors will be invited to present and discuss their draft papers at a workshop held on 3/4 May 2023, which will be conducted in hybrid format at the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies (Oslo, Norway). Participants who wish to travel to Oslo for the workshop should notify the project team as soon as possible whether they would need the travel costs covered. Depending on funding, some participants’ travel costs can be covered by the Mass Atrocity Responses project.
Final Submission: Full-length papers (max. 6,000 words including footnotes) should be submitted by 1 June 2023. All submissions must be original research papers that are not being considered for publication elsewhere. More information on format and reference style will be provided after abstract selection. Papers may be subject to blind peer review, depending on the publisher’s instructions.
Publication of the Edited Volume: Expected by early 2024.
Project Group:
The ‘Mass Atrocity Resistance’ research initiative is part of the project Mass Atrocity Responses, coordinated by Ellen E. Stensrud at the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies, and funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project group consists of:
Ellen E. Stensrud, Senior Researcher, Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies, Oslo.
Gyda M. Sindre, Senior Lecturer, University of York, UK
Claire Q. Smith, Senior Lecturer, University of York, UK
Eduardo Sánchez Madrigal, Research Assistant, Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies, Oslo.
Please get in touch for any questions related to this call.