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Cosmos

The Centre on Social Movement Studies

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Perspectives and Practices on Participatory Action Research in Social Movements

An open session based on the World Cafè discussion methodology to share different experiences and understandings of Participatory Action Research in social movements settings.

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Participatory Action Research is an increasingly common family of methods applied to study grassroots political participation in different settings, including social movements.

The open session addresses this topic through the World Cafè methodology,that creates a hospitable place for meaningful conversations to happen and that encourages everyone’s contribution allowing to connect diverse perspectives and share collective insights.  During the session, participants will hence experiment a different way to develop a participated, lively and shared discussion around some compelling questions raised by experimenting with Participatory Action Research.

Attending the World Cafè session is free for everyone curious about Participatory Action Research and related methods: no previous experience is required to participate.

The open session will take place on April the 12th from 2:30pm to 6:00pm. It includes a coffee break. Registration is compulsory for logistic reasons: to register please send an email to cosmos [at] sns [dot] it by the 8th of April at latest.

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Publications

Edited Volume - 2026

Conspiracism and Political Conflict

Manuela Caiani, Marco Solinas, Hans-Jorg Trenz

Monograph - 2025

Free download for "Contentious Politics of Global Health Movements"

Donatella Della Porta, Stella Christou

Journal Article - 2025

Communication creates partial organization: A comparative analysis of the organizing practices of two climate action movements, Youth for Climate and Fridays for Future Italy

Marco Deseriis, Lorenzo Zamponi, Diego Ceccobelli
This article focuses on a neglected aspect of the climate action movement Fridays for Future, namely, the relationship between its mediated communication practices and its early organizational processes. Drawing from a strand of organizational communication that underscores the constitutive dimension of communication to organizing processes, we analyze the significance of mediatized leadership and networked communication for the foundation and early development of two national chapters of Fridays for Future: Youth for Climate (YFC) Belgium and Fridays for Future Italy (FFFI).

Journal Article - 2025

Power resources, territory and labour conflicts in the logistic sector

Donatella Della Porta, Marco Antonelli