11.2: Frameworks for Action

Reflection Summary: Frameworks for Action

This reading explains different frameworks for action in Ethnic Studies. These frameworks help people understand how to fight injustice and create social change. Ethnic Studies focuses on dismantling systems of oppression. These systems include racism, colonialism, patriarchy, and economic inequality. Activism plays an important role in this process.

The reading explains that Ethnic Studies is connected to community action. It is not only about studying history. It is also about helping communities challenge unfair systems. Many activists, scholars, and organizers use different frameworks to guide their work. These frameworks show different ways people can fight for justice.

One important idea in the reading is intergenerational knowledge. This means that knowledge and experience are passed from older generations to younger generations. Social movements often grow stronger because people learn from the struggles of their parents and grandparents. Activists continue the work of earlier generations and build on their experiences.

Another important framework discussed in the reading is Indigenous sovereignty. Indigenous sovereignty refers to the right of Indigenous people to govern themselves. It also refers to their right to protect their land, culture, and traditions. Indigenous communities have a long history of resisting colonization and fighting for their rights.

Sovereignty is different from other forms of justice because it involves the relationship between Indigenous nations and governments. Many Indigenous communities have treaties with governments such as the United States. These treaties recognize their political status and land rights. However, these rights have often been ignored or violated.

Indigenous sovereignty is also connected to culture and spirituality. Indigenous communities work to protect their traditions, languages, and spiritual practices. These cultural elements are important for maintaining identity and self-determination. Protecting culture is part of protecting sovereignty.

The reading also talks about decolonization. Decolonization means challenging the systems created by colonization. Colonization involved taking Indigenous land and forcing foreign political systems onto Indigenous communities. Decolonization requires people to rethink history and power relationships.

Decolonization also involves restoring Indigenous rights and land. It is both a political and cultural process. It requires governments and societies to recognize historical injustice and support Indigenous self-determination.

Another important framework discussed in the reading is intersectionality. Intersectionality helps people understand how different forms of oppression overlap. The term intersectionality was created by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. She used it to explain the unique discrimination faced by Black women.

Black women often experience discrimination based on both race and gender. However, legal systems sometimes fail to recognize this combined discrimination. Intersectionality helps explain these complex experiences.

Intersectionality is now used widely in social justice movements. It helps people understand how race, gender, sexuality, immigration status, and other identities interact. Some individuals experience multiple forms of oppression at the same time. Intersectionality encourages activists to consider these overlapping experiences.

The reading also discusses queer and trans of color critiques. These frameworks focus on the experiences of LGBTQ+ people of color. Queer and trans people of color often face discrimination based on race, gender identity, and sexuality. Their struggles are an important part of social justice movements.

Historical figures such as Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson played important roles in LGBTQ+ activism. They were leaders in fighting for the rights of transgender and queer people. Their activism helped create the Pride celebrations that many people recognize today.

The reading also describes Ballroom culture. Ballroom culture developed in cities among Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ communities. It includes dance, fashion, and performance competitions called “balls.” These events created safe spaces for people who were often rejected by mainstream society.

Ballroom culture has influenced popular culture in many ways. Dance styles and fashion from Ballroom culture have appeared in music, television, and movies. However, many participants in Ballroom culture still face economic struggles and housing insecurity.

Another framework discussed in the reading is disability justice. Disability justice focuses on the rights and dignity of people with disabilities. Disabilities can be physical, emotional, or cognitive. Some disabilities are visible, while others are invisible.

People with disabilities have often faced discrimination and exclusion. Disability justice movements work to promote accessibility, equality, and representation. Activists emphasize that people with disabilities should lead their own movements.

The organization Sins Invalid created a disability justice framework with ten important principles. One principle is intersectionality. Disability justice recognizes that people with disabilities may also experience other forms of oppression.

Another principle is centering the leadership of the most affected individuals. This means that people with disabilities should have the strongest voice in disability justice movements. Their experiences and perspectives are important.

Disability justice also challenges capitalism. Capitalism often values people based on productivity and economic output. People with disabilities may be unfairly judged by these standards. Disability justice movements emphasize that human worth is not based on productivity.

Another principle is cross-movement organizing. Disability justice movements work with other movements, including racial justice and gender justice movements. These collaborations strengthen the fight for equality.

The framework also emphasizes interdependence. Many societies value independence and view dependence as weakness. However, disability justice recognizes that all people depend on each other in different ways. Interdependence allows communities to support each other.

Another concept discussed in the reading is allyship. Allies are people from dominant groups who support marginalized communities. Allies try to understand their own privilege and work to challenge injustice.

Allies can take many actions. They can educate themselves about history and inequality. They can speak out against discrimination. They can support people who experience bias or injustice.

However, allyship should not focus on personal recognition. True allies do not seek praise or validation. Instead, they focus on supporting marginalized communities.

The reading also introduces the concept of accomplices. Accomplices go beyond basic allyship. They take more direct and sustained action against systems of oppression. For example, white people may actively work against racism. Men may work to challenge patriarchy. Straight people may work to support LGBTQ+ rights.

Another related term is co-conspirator. Co-conspirators actively work alongside marginalized communities. They may take risks to challenge unfair systems. This form of solidarity requires strong commitment and collaboration.

Digital activism is another framework discussed in the reading. Digital activism uses the internet and social media to organize movements and spread information. Technology has changed the way activism works.

The internet allows people to communicate quickly across long distances. Social media platforms allow activists to share ideas, organize protests, and build communities. Digital activism has played a role in many movements around the world.

For example, the Arab Spring involved protests organized through social media. Activists used digital tools to challenge authoritarian governments. Social media also helped spread information about these protests globally.

In the United States, the Occupy Wall Street movement also used social media. This movement protested economic inequality and corporate power. Activists used online platforms to share messages and organize demonstrations.

Digital activism has advantages because it spreads information quickly. However, some critics say that social media activism can become “slacktivism.” Slacktivism refers to people posting online but not taking real action in the community.

Even with these criticisms, digital activism remains an important tool. Hashtags and online campaigns can raise awareness about social issues. They can also connect people who want to support social movements.

The reading also discusses artistic resistance. Art has always been an important tool in social movements. Artists use music, poetry, paintings, and performances to express political ideas.

Art can communicate powerful messages about injustice and inequality. It can also inspire people to take action. Artistic expression often helps people understand social problems in emotional and creative ways.

Murals, posters, and sculptures are common forms of activist art. These artworks can transform public spaces and spread messages to large audiences. Street art often challenges authority and questions social systems.

The reading also discusses monuments and statues. Some monuments celebrate historical figures connected to oppression. For example, statues honoring Confederate leaders in the United States represent a history connected to slavery.

Many activists argue that these monuments should be removed because they celebrate racist systems. In Canada, activists protested statues connected to colonial history after mass graves of Indigenous children were discovered near residential schools.

Art can also communicate complex ideas through symbolism. Images can represent emotions, struggles, and social realities. Artistic activism encourages people to think critically about society.

Another example mentioned in the reading is a poster about school shootings. The image shows students walking with a large shadow behind them. This shadow represents fear and danger. The artwork communicates how violence affects young people.

Art can also represent migration and resistance. One example in the reading shows a Latina migrant woman with a monarch butterfly. The artwork suggests that migration is a form of resistance against colonial systems.

Art has always been connected to activism. Governments and authoritarian leaders sometimes try to control artists and scholars. Creativity can challenge authority and reveal injustice.

Art helps communities remember history and imagine better futures. Cultural expression strengthens collective identity and shared struggle.

Overall, the reading shows that there are many ways to fight injustice. Indigenous sovereignty, intersectionality, disability justice, allyship, digital activism, and artistic resistance are all frameworks for action.

Each framework highlights different experiences and perspectives. Together, they help activists understand complex systems of oppression.

In my reflection, I think this reading shows the importance of collective action. Social change often requires many people working together. Different movements and frameworks can support each other.

I also think the reading shows that activism takes many forms. Some people organize protests. Others create art or use technology to spread messages. All of these actions can contribute to social change.

Another important lesson is that justice movements must include many voices. People with different experiences bring important knowledge and perspectives. Listening to marginalized communities is essential for creating meaningful change.

Finally, this reading reminds us that activism continues today. Social justice movements are still working to address racism, inequality, and oppression. New generations can learn from these frameworks and continue the struggle for justice.

In conclusion, this chapter explains many important frameworks for action in Ethnic Studies. These frameworks help people understand how to challenge oppression and support social movements. Through solidarity, activism, and community action, people can work toward a more just and equitable society.

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• Mario Alberto Viveros Espinoza-Kulick & Kay Fischer
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Ethnic Studies in Action

In Ethnic Studies, there are multiple frameworks for action to address the complex process of dismantling structural hierarchies and working toward racial justice, decolonization, and equity. Activism has driven the field and community action is a recurring principle in Ethnic Studies classrooms and scholarship. These frameworks reflect the different standpoints that advocates and community organizers bring into the process of creating change and how activism takes place. The picture included in Figure , "I Get it From My Mama" by Melanie Cervantes highlights the importance of intergenerational knowledge in shaping social movement activism.

Figure : I Get it From My Mama. (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0; Melanie Cervantes via JustSeeds)

Indigenous Sovereignty

Indigenous sovereignty refers to the self-determination and legal standing of Native and Indigenous peoples. Sovereignty is distinct from other forms of justice because it refers to the historical relationship between peoples and governments, including the system of government within a particular society or territory. Sovereignty is an explicitly political project that concerns land rights, treaties between tribes and other governments, including the United States, and the political standing of Native Americans and Indigenous peoples. Sovereignty is also a matter of economic capacity and spiritual integrity. Native and Indigenous peoples work to ensure that there are resources to support and grow self-determination, as well as the continuation of cultural, religious, and spiritual traditions that sustain political processes and traditional knowledge.

The project of decolonization refers to the continued struggle to assert and restore tribal sovereignty in the face of settler-colonialism and systems of genocide. Decolonization is a far-reaching agenda that requires us to commit to changing how we think about ourselves and our history, in tandem with political and cultural advocacy that affirms sovereignty (Tuck and Wang 2012).

Queer and Trans of Color Critiques and Intersectionality

Intersectional and queer of color approaches to collective action have worked to address justice for historically minoritized and exploited groups by focusing on those who experience multiple forms of oppression. The term intersectionality was coined by Kimberle Crenshaw (1989) to describe the unique experiences of Black women, whose claims of illegal discrimination based on race and sex were denied in the court system. Beyond the legal system, intersectionality has been used to highlight how mainstream narratives erase the unique experiences of women of color and other multiply marginalized groups. The notion of intersectionality resonated with other groups like Chicanas, Native and Indigenous feminists, and womanists, who have developed the framework for over 30 years. See also Chapter 8, section 8.2 "What is Intersectionality?"

The phrase intersectionality is a key term for emphasizing experiences of race, gender, sexuality, immigration status, and more. The idea behind intersectionality was developed within social movements and activist communities, including within the Black feminist lesbian tradition (Lorde 2007). The Combahee River Collective statement in 1977 articulated some of the key aspects of intersectionality, including a focus on power relations, systemic oppression, and the importance of continually taking action to make change. You can read this statement in full on the Black Past website. Similarly, Brazilian Black feminists like Lélia Gonzalez also articulated these ideas long before 1989.

These key principles are also utilized in queer and trans of color frameworks (Ferguson, 2003). For example, while many are familiar with the parades and community gatherings held for Pride celebrations today, these would not have been possible without the leadership of queer and trans people of color like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. These figures were fearless advocates for the trans people of color and queer people of color experiencing vulnerability and risk based on discrimination and exclusion. Cisheteropatriarchy has been resisted within Ballroom culture, which provides a unique social setting for People of Color, including Black drag queens, to celebrate diversity and cultivate spaces to disidentify with dominant cultures (Muñoz, 1999).

Sidebar: Ballroom Culture

Ballroom culture originated in the late 20th century in big cities around the country, with Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ communities celebrating culture and community through dance, performance, and fashion. The styles of Ballroom dancing have had major impacts on popular culture, including being the source of Madonna’s Vogue and popularizing dance moves like the “death drop” that appear in RuPaul’s Drag Race and on memes circulated online. Despite this mainstream influence, many of the performers and organizers of Ball culture remain in precarious housing and economic situations, with little resources or security. The 1990 documentary, Paris is Burning, introduces Ball culture with a more serious consideration of participants’ lived experiences. More recently, the TV series Pose (2018-2021) featured a popular, fictional retelling of the inner-workings of New York City Ball culture in the late 1980s.

Disability Justice Framework

Working in solidarity for social transformation includes many groups that have been marginalized and oppressed. In addition to ethnicity, race, gender, and sexuality, people with disabilities have built movements for self-representation, advocacy, and social change using a disability justice framework. The category of disability is broad and can include physical disabilities, emotional disabilities, and cognitive disabilities. Within any of these categories, a disability may be visible or invisible, and temporary or permanent.

The group Sins Invalid has put forward a framework to organize work for disability justice, which has ten components.

1. Disability justice must be intersectional and take into account the range of experiences and identities that overlap with disability experiences.
2. Disability justice means centering the leadership of the most impacted individuals and communities. This means prioritizing people with disabilities based on their own perspectives and not their family members, doctors, or other “experts.”
3. Disability justice means taking up anti-capitalistic politics. Capitalism places value on people based on their productivity and ability to create monetary gains, and many people with disabilities cannot or do not translate their worth in terms of paid employment.
4. Disability justice is a commitment to cross-movement organizing, such as economic justice movements, racial justice, and gender justice.
5. Disability justice is recognizing wholeness. This means taking a broad perspective on our humanity, and not defining people solely based on one aspect of themselves, such as a single identity. Some people with disabilities intentionally chose “person-first” language like, “people with disabilities” as opposed to “disability-first” language like “disabled people” to emphasize humanity and wholeness. Notably, some people with disabilities choose to use terms like “disabled” so that it draws attention to the process of society disabling people through active choices and policies.
6. Disability justice is sustainability, meaning that at an individual, social, and environmental level, we must be able to sustain our movements and support ongoing activism.
7. Disability justice is a commitment to cross-disability solidarity. This means working together across different experiences of disability. People with physical disabilities, emotional disabilities, and cognitive disabilities may have little in common within their day to day experiences, however, through intentional movement building and solidarity, everyone’s concerns can be brought together.
8. Disability justice is interdependence, which involves a recognition that we are all implicated with each other. It is sometimes characterized that people without disabilities are independent and people with disabilities are dependent. However, all people are both independent and dependent, and when we recognize our interdependence, we can be more effective in supporting each other.
9. Disability justice is collective access. This builds on the notion of interdependence to think beyond the individual level when considering disability issues. Collective access can mean considering how groups, families, and communities can access spaces and institutions. For example, are ramps, elevators, and sidewalk cutouts present throughout entire neighborhoods? And, which neighborhoods have these supports available in the built environment? Are caretakers and family members of people with disabilities included in accommodations and accessibility procedures?
10. Disability justice is collective liberation. This emphasizes that when working for inclusion, justice, and equity, marginalized groups can support each other to reach further and create change.

Together, these principles are essential for understanding disability justice, and they can also be applied and adapted to consider a range of social issues and movement organizing.

Sidebar: Disability Advocacy and Pop Culture

Disability justice advocates help to identify when words or phrases are exclusionary to people with disabilities. For example, in June 2022, fans discovered that Lizzo’s upcoming song featured an offensive term and Twitter user @hannah_diviney posted this to express her disappointed. Many more began to join in the conversation and speak out against this particular term, along with other commonly used words that maintain derogatory meanings against people with disabilities. Lizzo revised her song and made a public apology, which was met with widespread admiration on social media. However, the reading of “spaz” as a derogatory term has been challenged by Black disabled people who recognize that it has a different history and context among Black people. However, as a non-disabled person, Lizzo acted as an ally to the people who were harmed by her word choice, a concept which is covered further in the next section.

Allies, Accomplices, and Co-Conspirators

When considering the use of these structural frameworks for sovereignty and justice, it is important to recognize that change is carried out by individual people working in community. Individuals may carry a range of marginalized or privileged statuses, including in combination. When thinking about working from the space of privileged identities, scholars and activists have described opportunities to be an accomplice, ally, or co-conspirator.

Allies are members of a dominant group who take an active role in understanding their own privilege and working to support members of a marginalized group. Some examples of actions that allies take include: educating themselves about historical and contemporary injustice, being vocal advocates for anti-racism, interrupting acts of bias, and supporting people who have experienced discrimination. There is no one right way to be an ally, but many opportunities to practice allyship when a person is operating from the standpoint of privilege. This practice builds relationships across differences and encourages listening, learning from mistakes, and continually taking action. Allies take action without centering their own identity or seeking validation of their allyhood. When individuals from a privileged standpoint recenter themselves and their own validation, they are no longer acting as an ally or working against a pattern of marginalization.

Allyship is just one component of acting in solidarity against systems of marginalization. For instance, accomplices go beyond supporting members of a marginalized group to take sustained and proactive action. This includes white people who actively work toward anti-racism, men committed to ending patriarchy, and straight/cisgender people who work against the oppression of LGBTQ+ people. Accomplices have already developed substantial knowledge and cultural humility to align their actions with the leadership and goals of marginalized group members. The concept of solidarity is visualized in the image contained at the end of this section. Another term that is often used to describe this kind of solidarity practice is co-conspirator. This refers to the necessity of working actively in continual collaboration with people of color and other marginalized groups and taking active risks to unsettle the status quo. In Figure , you can see an artistic rendition of solidarity, with a group of individuals protesting together, including a sign that says, "We work in solidarity with everyday people impacted by U.S. wars and militarism. We prioritize solidarity with the demands of grassroots liberatory movements wherever possible, not state powers."

Figure : Solidarity with All Movements. (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0; Monica Trinidad via JustSeeds)

Digital Activism

The Internet has created many new opportunities for activism, social movement building, and connecting people together to help create change in our communities and society. In the early 21st century, Internet-enabled devices like computers, tablets, and smartphones became increasingly more accessible to the public. New forms of social media allowed for direct communication between individuals at a global scale without the same barriers and gatekeepers involved in broadcast media, like television, radio, and publishing. This became a major asset for activists in repressive countries with strict governmental controls, leading to events like the “Arab Spring” in 2010 and 2011, where activists staged massive protests against authoritarianism and corruption. In the United States, the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 was an early example of social media being used to spread information about protests. You can learn more about the Arab Spring from the 11-minute radio report on NPR linked here. Occupy Wall Street originated the slogan of the “99%” for economic solidarity among working-class and middle-class communities, and you can find out more about the movement on their website linked here. The tweets that brought activists together to protest capitalism and economic exploitation in New York City quickly spread around the country and eventually the globe, spawning “Occupy” demonstrations in cities and towns where people set up camps in public places that functioned on a collectivist ethic, prioritizing horizontal leadership, as well as raising awareness about economic inequalities.

Now, digital activism is included in nearly every social movement and social justice issue. According to an article by the Pew Research Center (2021), 60% of adults in the U.S. use their smartphone, computer, or tablet often. The rising popularity of social media activism has also led to critiques of what some refer to as “slack-tivism” where people post something on social media but do not engage in sustained action beyond a single post. In these instances, digital activism is mostly seen as a performance that is disconnected from the sustained work of movement building, collective action, and social change. However, digital activism emphasizes the multiple potential targets of social movement organizing. For instance, Twitter users can post messages and start hashtags that seek to raise awareness about political issues and elections, hold corporations accountable, share and critique cultural productions, and organize public discussions. Hashtags are used to raise awareness and inspire people to join in the movement and make it their own. In Figure , the artist has rendered the hashtag "#JusticeForGeorgeFloyd," demonstrating how social media conventions have permeated all forms of representation, including art.

Figure : Justice for George Floyd. (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0; Damon Locks via JustSeeds)

Artistic Resistance

Arts and culture are vital domains for activism and social movements. Artistic expression can be used to communicate critiques of social institutions and authority structures and as a way of building and mobilizing collective identities. Art is a powerful communication tool and has the advantage of having multiple meanings for multiple audiences. Phrases and melodies used in hip-hop, poetry, and music of various genres can illuminate social structures and build connections in place of isolation. Art is also used to spread messages through the built environment through monuments, sculptures, murals, tagging, posters, and stickers.

For example, memorials are an important site of collective identity both for social movements and social institutions. For example, in the southeastern United States, many statues honor Confederate leaders and soldiers from the U.S. Civil War. The Confederacy existed from 1861-1865 as a last-ditch attempt to maintain the system of U.S. chattel slavery. However, many Confederate memorials and symbols are circulated both within and beyond the former Confederate states in the U.S. South. The supporters of these monuments often claim to recognize their historical or cultural value, but they communicate support for slavery and racism among white people. Similarly, in 2021, First Nations activists in Canada toppled a statue of both Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II in response to the discovery of mass graves of Native children in the country’s Boarding Schools.

Art can be powerful in conveying messages through symbols. For example, in the image shown in , the long shadow behind students conveys the heavy weight of fear in living in a society where school shootings are normalized.

Figure : Protect Students Not Guns. (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0; Pete Railand via JustSeeds)

Images can also communicate complex social realities and contradictions. For example, in the activist poster in Figure , a Latina migrant woman is shown looking backward over a coastal landscape with a traditional scarf, a monarch butterfly perched on her shoulder, and the circular halo associated with Catholic saints, but mirroring the color and pattern of the monarch butterfly’s wings. Accompanied by the text, “Migrar es resistencia anticolonial” (“Migration is anticolonial resistance”), this image signals a transnational identity rooted in liberation and faith.

Figure : Migrar es Resistencia Anticolonial (Migration is Anticolonial Resistance). (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0; Pilar Emitxin via JustSeeds)

Because of art’s ability to challenge conventional thinking and reveal important social realities, it has always been a crucial tool for social movements. One way this can be seen is that authoritarian regimes often target artists and scholars to help maintain social control and oppression. Creativity can be dangerous to those in power who seek to divide and exploit. Culture plays an important role in shared struggles over who we are, how we remember the past, and what that means for the future.

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This page titled 11.2: Frameworks for Action is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Mario Alberto Viveros Espinoza-Kulick & Kay Fischer (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI)) .

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