Key Concepts in Transnational Social Movements

Why This Matters

Transnational social movements are where anthropology of globalization gets real—they show you how people actually respond to global forces rather than passively accepting them. You're being tested on your understanding of how collective action crosses borders, how activists navigate cultural differences, and why some movements succeed in creating global solidarity while others fragment along national or cultural lines. These movements demonstrate core concepts like deterritorialization, global civil society, network theory, and the tension between universalism and cultural relativism.

Don't just memorize which movement fights for what cause. Instead, focus on the mechanisms: How do movements scale up from local to global? What role do NGOs, international institutions, and digital technologies play? How do activists balance universal claims (like "human rights") with respect for local contexts? When you can explain why a movement operates transnationally and how it navigates the contradictions of globalization, you're thinking like an anthropologist.

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Movements Challenging Economic Globalization

These movements directly confront the structures of global capitalism, arguing that neoliberal economic policies create winners and losers across borders. They use the very networks created by economic globalization to critique and resist it.

Anti-Globalization Movement

• Critiques neoliberalism and corporate power—targets institutions like the WTO, IMF, and World Bank as agents of economic inequality and cultural homogenization
• Grassroots mobilization through events like the 1999 Seattle WTO protests demonstrated how decentralized networks could disrupt global governance
• Advocates for alternatives such as local economies, degrowth, and solidarity economics—represents the anthropological concept of counter-hegemonic globalization

Fair Trade Movement

• Market-based activism—uses consumer purchasing power to reshape global supply chains and ensure producers receive living wages
• Empowers marginalized producers by creating direct market access, challenging the middleman structures that extract value from the Global South
• Raises consciousness about commodity chains—makes visible the hidden labor and environmental costs embedded in everyday products

International Labor Rights Movement

• Targets global supply chains—addresses exploitation where multinational corporations outsource production to low-wage, low-regulation contexts
• Coalition-building across borders connects trade unions, NGOs, and consumer advocates to pressure corporations and governments simultaneously
• Focuses on structural issues like child labor, forced labor, and the right to organize—reveals how economic globalization creates a "race to the bottom" in labor standards

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Rights-Based Universalist Movements

These movements appeal to universal human dignity as a basis for transnational solidarity. They raise key anthropological questions about whether "universal" rights can accommodate cultural difference or whether they impose Western frameworks globally.

Human Rights Movement

• Universal claims, contested applications—asserts fundamental rights regardless of nationality, but faces criticism for cultural imperialism when applied across diverse contexts
• Leverages international institutions like the United Nations and international courts to hold states accountable—demonstrates the power and limits of global governance
• Focuses on documentation and visibility—organizations like Amnesty International use "naming and shaming" as a key tactic, making violations visible to global audiences

Women's Rights Movement

• Navigates universalism and cultural relativism—debates over practices like FGM or veiling reveal tensions between global feminist frameworks and local meanings
• Transnational knowledge-sharing allows activists to adapt strategies across contexts while respecting local leadership and priorities
• Addresses intersecting oppressions including reproductive rights, gender-based violence, and economic discrimination—increasingly incorporates intersectional analysis

LGBTQ+ Rights Movement

• Global solidarity networks support activists in restrictive regions through funding, visibility campaigns, and asylum advocacy
• Contested categories—the very terms "LGBTQ+" reflect Western identity frameworks that may not translate across all cultural contexts, raising questions about cultural translation
• Strategic framing often appeals to human rights discourse, but some scholars note this can obscure local histories of gender and sexual diversity

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Movements Centered on Identity and Recognition

These movements foreground questions of cultural survival, historical justice, and the right to self-determination. They challenge the nation-state system and demand recognition of identities that don't fit neatly within national borders.

Indigenous Rights Movement

• Collective rights framework—demands recognition of group rights to land, resources, and cultural practices, challenging the individualist bias of liberal human rights
• Transnational networking through bodies like the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues connects geographically dispersed communities facing similar threats from extractive industries and state encroachment
• Seeks reparative justice—addresses historical injustices including colonialism, forced assimilation, and ongoing dispossession through demands for land restitution and cultural revitalization

Global Peace Movement

• Addresses structural violence—goes beyond opposing war to target root causes including poverty, inequality, and militarism as interconnected global systems
• Mobilizes international coalitions through campaigns for disarmament, conscientious objection, and non-violent resistance
• Connects local and global by linking community-level peacebuilding to international advocacy against arms trade and military intervention

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Movements Addressing Non-Human Concerns

These movements extend ethical concern beyond humans, challenging anthropocentric frameworks and raising questions about moral boundaries and global responsibility.

Global Environmental Movement

• Planetary framing—climate change and biodiversity loss require thinking beyond national borders, making this movement inherently transnational in scope
• Diverse tactics and actors range from international NGOs negotiating agreements like the Paris Accord to grassroots direct action groups like Extinction Rebellion
• Environmental justice lens increasingly connects ecological issues to social inequality, recognizing that climate impacts fall disproportionately on the Global South and marginalized communities

International Animal Rights Movement

• Extends moral consideration beyond humans, challenging species boundaries and raising questions about ethical universalism
• Targets industrial practices like factory farming and animal testing that are embedded in global supply chains and scientific research networks
• Cross-cultural tensions emerge when animal rights claims conflict with Indigenous hunting practices or religious traditions, revealing the limits of universal ethical frameworks

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Quick Reference Table

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Self-Check Questions

1. Which two movements most directly illustrate the tension between working within global capitalism versus seeking alternatives to it? What anthropological concept describes movements that use global networks to resist globalization?

2. How do Indigenous rights movements challenge the framework of mainstream human rights discourse? What does this reveal about the limits of universalism?

3. Compare the strategies used by the fair trade movement and the anti-globalization movement. Why might an anthropologist argue that fair trade represents "neoliberalism with a human face"?

4. If an FRQ asked you to analyze how a transnational movement navigates cultural difference, which movement would you choose and why? What specific tensions would you discuss?

5. How does the concept of "structural violence" connect the global peace movement to movements focused on labor rights and environmental justice? Give specific examples of how these movements frame their causes as interconnected.