University of Malta launches archive of women who left an impact on society

 

Diaries, articles, campaign posters, writings and photos of renowned women and others less known, from the Second World War till now, will be featured at the Women’s Archive at the University. This includes the archives of two social movement organisations during the 1970s and 1980s respectively, Muvument għall-Emanċipazzjoni tal-Mara and Minn Naħa tan-Nisa.

You can read a report by Television Malta about this event here. 

The archives of the Muviment Emanċipazzjoni tal-Mara had been entrusted to me by my late mother Marie Lucia Briguglio in 2021. You can also read my recount of the experience here.

Collective action frames and social movements : The case of the 'front kontra l-golf kors'

Galea, P. (2011). Collective action frames and social movements: The case of the 'front kontra l-golf kors' (Master's dissertation).

Social movements cannot be understood properly without references to the grievances that inspire their members to engage in collective action outside political institutions. Yet as countless situations in the world suggest, the existence of grievances by itself cannot account for the emergence of social movements. For grievances to translate into action they must first be interpreted as being problematic and also malleable. Social movement actors are thus engulfed in processes of signification, interpretation and articulation that aim to construct their object of contention into a problem in need of change, in a way that inspires others to join their struggle. These matters have been at the heart of the framing perspective, which has over the last decades established itself as a central area in social movement studies. 

Unfortunately,  in Malta, despite the  ubiquity  of  social  movement action, general research in the area remains sparse, while movement research from a framing  perspective  is  virtually  inexistent.  This study aims to begin redressing this lacuna.  Informed by framing and discourse theories, this study, through the thematic analysis of numerous documents and texts, analyzes the articulation of collective action frames in the case of the Front Kontra l-Golf Kors, a broad alliance of organisations and individuals that opposed the development of an 18-hole golf course in Rabat, Malta, in a campaign between 1999 and 2004. In this regard the diagnostic and prognostic frames of the Front Kontra l-Golf Kors were found to be most salient, and are outlined and discussed in significant detail. The Front’s motivational framing on the other hand, was found to be somewhat lacking. This was deemed to be due to the context of the struggle and the strategic choices of the Front Kontra l-Golf Kors. Finally, the data suggests that the campaign of the Front Kontra l-Golf Kors rested on three main themes: agricultural preservation, environmental sustainability, and the contestation of legitimacy. 

Although these themes feature profusely in the framing efforts of Front Kontra l-Golf Kors they are discussed separately at the end in a separate discussion that engages with the literature and roots said theme in their contexts. 

Link to dissertation: Click here and here

The Bird Hunting Referendum in Malta

Briguglio, Michael (2015). The Bird Hunting Referendum in Malta. Environmental Politics, Vol. 24(5), pp.835-839 DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2015.1055880

Environmental NGOs (ENGOs) have an important role in the implementation of EU policy. They use links with European institutions to promote their grievances, particularly when they are unsatisfied with results of lobbying at a national level on matters covered by EU legislation. The Wild Birds Directive is a case in point. This piece of legislation has conservationist aims that are shared by ENGOs such as Birdlife International, which is active in all EU member states. The European Commission has taken legal action against Malta, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, and Austria for violating this Directive. 

However, environmental issues linked to EU legislation have a strong national dimension. The case of bird hunting in Malta during spring is a good example. The issue has been the subject of intense political controversy and lobbying, and despite a decision by the European Court of Justice, it remained unresolved at a national level. The issue eventually escalated to a national legally binding referendum, held on 11 April 2015. Turnout for the referendum was 75%, and the ‘Yes’ movement, which campaigned in favour of hunting in spring, emerged victorious, winning 50.4% of the vote, a mere 2220 vote advantage over the ‘No’ movement.

Link to paper: Click here or here

Image: Times of Malta

Malta, protest and revolution

Buttigieg, E. (2009). Malta, protest and revolution. In The international encyclopedia of revolution and protest (pp. 2182-2187). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The history of protest and revolt in Malta is complex and intriguing, particularly given its small size (the surface area of Malta is only 122 square  miles). Such a varied history is the result of a particular interaction between geography and the actions of people. This article provides a brief overview of episodes of protest and revolution in the Maltese islands from c.1530 to the early 2000s.  

Link to paper, click here or here

Image: https://www.festivals.mt/sette-giugno

Ethnographic research and activism : a critical, feminist, and sensory approach to Moviment Graffitti

Mouslim, J. A. (2024). Ethnographic research and activism : a critical, feminist, and sensory approach to Moviment Graffitti. Malta Review of Educational Research, 18(1), 13-29.

In many fields today, there is a call for educators to move out of their ‘ivory towers’ and into public spaces (Sandlin et al., 2017, p. 825). This critical turn toward public pedagogy, emancipatory research, and participatory (action) research has become increasingly crucial within academia. But what are the risks when educators and researchers move into public spaces where activist communities gather? This paper discusses some methodological concerns with researching activism. In this paper, I attempt to counter these concerns by employing a critical, feminist, and sensory methodology to research activist communities and their lived, embodied, and affective experiences.

Link to paper: Click here

Empowering civil society: the theatricality of protest in Malta

Cremona, V. A. (2022). Empowering civil society: the theatricality of protest in Malta. New Theatre Quarterly, 38(2), 125-138.

The recent barbaric murder of an investigative journalist in Malta who was looking into corruption at the top echelons of power sparked off a civil society movement, Repubblika, spurring ordinary citizens into participating in collective protest action. The movement also incorporated a loose grouping of women calling themselves ‘Occupy Justice’. Different forms of protest against government corruption have resulted in the resignation of various senior politicians and high-ranking officials, including the Prime Minister. Taking as a point of departure the struggle against the unequal distribution of power as defined by Michel Foucault and Jacques Rancière, the empowering force of civil protest is here examined in relation to how power is appropriated and how institutional power is resisted. Micromobilization and mesomobilization are seen as two means of staging protest and creating a common force with which to confront corrupt power structures. Protest, power, and resistance are viewed in the light of theatrical events; the creative means deployed to stage protests are discussed. The aesthetic qualities meant to transform perception and move people to action for bringing about political change are highlighted in relation to both sensory and symbolic dynamics.

Link to paper: Click here or here

Image: Robert Agius

Art activism: Art of dissent

Vella, M.G. (2023). Art activism: Art of dissent. International Journal of Education through Art (IJETA), 19(1), 11-27

Moviment Graffitti has, for the last 25 years, been active against the oppression and exploitation of people, animals and the environment with a vision of freedom, justice and radical democracy. Traversing different media, genres and styles, Moviment Graffitti has a dynamic, symbiotic and powerful relationship with art. This article will look at Graffitti’s passionate use of art as a pedagogical tool to create awareness and bring forth social change through the aesthetics of activism and the art of dissent. It explores the role, meaning and paradox of political art through the movement’s artistic sub-groups and the main artistic initiatives embarked upon. Deliberately eschewing the elitism of the art establishment, the commodification of education and culture and depoliticized notions of sustainability and development through art edu/activism (eduvism), Graffitti reappropriates art to agitate educators in revolutionary pedagogy to become pivotal actors in the promotion of progressive social change.

Link to paper: Click here

Image: Malta Today