Psychology
Document Type
Article
Abstract
While social psychology has contributed much to our understanding of collective action, other forms of resistance are understudied. However, in contexts of long-standing oppression—such as ongoing colonialism—and past repression of liberation struggles, other resistance strategies are important considering the constraints on overt, collective action in such contexts. This paper reports findings from an interview study in Puerto Rico (N = 22) exploring anti-colonial resistance. We analysed participants' own resistance, future preferred strategies, and descriptive norms of other ingroup members' resistance. Through thematic analysis, we identified six distinct forms of anti-colonial resistance. Notably, none of the participants reported participating in collective action. Instead, participants engaged in different forms of symbolic everyday resistance to preserve a positive, distinct cultural identity, and raise critical consciousness of the group's oppression. Additionally, more tangible resistance strategies included staying on the land and building independent economies. Overall, this study illustrates the importance of considering a more comprehensive set of resistance strategies in contexts of long-standing colonial oppression to recognize oppressed groups' agency and provide a better understanding of how people undermine destructive power.
Publication Title
British Journal of Social Psychology
Publication Date
2024
ISSN
0144-6665
DOI
10.1111/bjso.12808
Keywords
collective action, colonialism, coloniality, cultural resistance, everyday resistance, oppression, prefigurative politics, Puerto Rico, resistance
Repository Citation
Marazzi, Carmen and Vollhardt, Johanna Ray, "“When you live in a colony… every act counts”: Exploring engagement in and perceptions of diverse anti-colonial resistance strategies in Puerto Rico" (2024). Psychology. 930.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_psychology/930
Cross Post Location
Student Publications
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright Conditions
Publisher source must be acknowledged with citation: Marazzi, C., & Vollhardt, J. R. (2024). “When you live in a colony… every act counts”: Exploring engagement in and perceptions of diverse anti‐colonial resistance strategies in Puerto Rico. British Journal of Social Psychology.
