The Politics of NonviolenceMaster ClassIn-Person
Tuesday, Jan 14, 2025
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m
The Trustees Room
Columbia University
535 W 116th St
New York, NY 10027
Columbia University is one of the world's most important centers of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields. The Trustees Room was designated and still serves as a conference room for the meetings of the Board.
Since Gandhi’s experiments in mass satyagraha—nonviolent civil resistance—over a century ago, nonviolence has become a staple of protest politics in the US and across the globe. over a century ago, nonviolence has become a staple of protest politics in the US and across the globe. At the same time, what exactly nonviolence is and what it can accomplish in politics is very much under debate. This master class will look back to Gandhi’s ideas and the more recent history of nonviolent politics to consider its future prospects. We will explore why movements choose to adopt nonviolence, how they enact nonviolence in their politics, and which forms of nonviolent protest have proven most effective.
SOCIAL STUDIES, WORLD HISTORY, POLITICS, ACTIVISM
Karuna Mantena
Karuna Mantena teaches political science at Columbia University and is codirector of the Conference for the Study of Political Thought (CSPT). She specializes in political theory, the history of political thought, empire and decolonization, and theories of political action. Karuna is the author of Alibis of Empire: Henry Maine and the Ends of Liberal Imperialism, which analyzed the transformation of nineteenth-century British imperial ideology. She has published articles on Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and the theory and practice of nonviolence in the twentieth century. Karuna is currently finishing a book on Gandhi and the politics of nonviolence.