Program

I understand solidarity as a form of unity that entails positive duties; solidarity mediates between individuals and larger communities, sometimes creating an identifiable collective that motivates and informs specific moral duties in addition to broader social obligations. Different forms of solidarity vary in how they manifest these three characteristics, however. In my reexamination of this position, I consider the moral relations of solidarity with specific attention to how social conditions within which solidarity emerges, impact the relations among participants. Confronting complex social situations, navigating conflict within and outside those solidary relations, and understanding the strains placed on bonds of solidarity from external social or global circumstances suggest that researchers of solidarity must pay close attention to the distribution of risk within relations of solidarity – the equity of the burdens of risk – and the potential hazards to the participants and the solidary relations themselves when the burdens of risk are ignored.

Author

Prof. Dr. Sally Scholz 

Villanova University

E-mail: sally.scholz@villanova.edu

Sally J. Scholz is Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University. For thirty years, she has written on the relations of solidarity, especially when those relations become strained by personal and political violence. Her research in social and political philosophy has resulted in numerous books, including on seminal thinkers whose work is central to developing the moral and political relations of solidarity in the Western tradition. She has published many articles on social movements, violence against women, oppression, and just war theory among other topics. A leader in the profession of philosophy, Scholz has chaired standing committees for the American Philosophical Association, including the Committee on Lectures, Publications, and Research, the Committee on the Status and Future of the Profession, and the Development Committee. She is a former editor of the APA Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy, The Journal of Peace and Justice Studies, and Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy. Scholz was President of the North American Society for Social Philosophy from 2015-2019, and serves on multiple editorial boards. Her current work explores the potential for expanding the bonds of solidarity. 

With deepening global crises characterized by, among others, economic inequality, resource scarcity in the face of climate change, weak governance, political unrest, forced migration, rapid urbanization, neoliberalism, youth disenfranchisement and unemployment, and rapid technological change, there is increasing erosion of traditional social systems of social order, and these pose a threat to community solidarity. Yet in the face of adversity, community solidarity remains a critical pillar of resilience for centering social relations, as well as ensuring social order and functioning. Drawing from sociological and community development perspectives, this paper examines these complex dynamics and challenges to community solidarity and seeks to suggest from an African perspective some opportunities that exist to bolster community solidarity. This entails bolstering community solidarity through some of the long-standing communal traditions of African societies that give hope to humanity, such as African indigenous knowledge systems, ubuntu philosophy, deference to the council of elders in decision making and consensus building, and grassroots mobilization. Other opportunities for centering community solidarity include bridging the digital divide and promoting intergenerational leadership as a way of ensuring the energies of the youth are harnessed in offering solutions to emerging social challenges. Lastly, community solidarity discourse and research need to be prioritised as a way of rediscovering and promoting empathy and the ethic of care in an increasingly individualistic society. The net effect of which will be co-creation of actionable pathways for co-creating sustainable ways of centering community solidarity rooted in local agency, social justice and empowered communities. 

Author

Dr. Daniel M. Muia

Kenyatta University

E-mail: Muia.daniel@ku.ac.ke

Daniel Muia is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Gender and Development Studies at Kenyatta University, Kenya. He is a Trustee representing Sub-Saharan Africa in the Board of the International Association for Community Development (IACD) and Chair of the Association of Community Development Practitioners-Kenya. Trained in sociology and community development, his academic and research interests are in community development and empowerment processes, and qualitative research. He has published journal articles and book chapters as well as co-edited two books, International Community Development Practice, Routledge, 2022 and Connectedness, resilience and empowerment: Perspectives on community development, Springer, 2023. He is currently co-editing a forthcoming edition, Community Development Theories, Perspectives and Practices in Africa. 

While social movement solidarity is often considered a positive resource for community mobilization, very few studies pay attention to its impact on personal lives and the silencing effect it has on gender-based violence. In response to this gap in knowledge, we have undertaken multiple studies between 2017 and 2025 to examine the personal impact of Hong Kong social movements on individuals’ lives. 

This talk is based on the analysis of the experiences of protesters, bystanders, and opponents of Hong Kong pro-democracy movements over the past 10 years, from a gender perspective. Here, I argue that while social movement solidarity experienced in protests can foster emotional reflexivity that helps challenge intergenerational and gendered hierarchies embedded in Hong Kong Chinese families, the pursuit of social movement solidarity can also trivialize women activists’ experiences of misogyny and gender-based violence, especially when these acts are committed by protesters. When this social movement solidarity is reenacted by politically displaced Hongkongers in the UK, gender issues remain at the periphery of the political agenda, and women’s experiences of political displacement and ongoing violence often go unheard in the diaspora community. 

Author

Prof. Dr. Sui Ting Kong

Durham University

E-mail: sui.t.kong@durham.ac.uk

Dr. Sui Ting Kong is an Associate Professor at Durham University, specializing in feminist participatory methodologies and social work practice research. Her work focuses on the impact of social movements on personal lives, particularly examining gender-based violence and the experiences of Hongkonger diaspora. She has developed innovative methods to democratize knowledge production and enhance understanding of violence against women in both political and personal contexts. 

Solidarity has been an important element in supporting migrants and refugees and in resisting unjust national migration and refugee policies. In this presentation, I juxtapose exclusionary migration and refugee policy based on the principle of national sovereignty with inclusive practices based on the principle of solidarity. Based on evidence from multiple interrelated studies of migration, sovereignty and solidarity, I find that both principles offer alternative ways of thinking about migration. Building on these findings, I focus on cities as places where tangible solidarity connections are formed as compared to imagined national communities. Drawing on recent research from the international ”Soli*City” partnership project, I show how urban migrant and refugee solidarity exists in various forms and different contexts. I also draw attention to the limitations of solidarity as a Eurocentric concept and a practice grounded in the Western capitalist experience. This situation offers an opportunity to contemplate solidarity as an anti-colonial concept and practice.

Author

Dr. Harald Bauder

Toronto Metropolitan University

E-mail: hbauder@torontomu.ca

Harald Bauder is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, former director of the Graduate Program for Immigration and Settlement Studies (ISS), and the founding former director of TMCIS. He received a PhD in Geography in 1998 from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada, and MA and BA degrees in Geography and Urban Studies from Wayne State University, Detroit, USA. In 2015, Dr. Bauder received the Konrad Adenauer Research Award, recognizing his lifetime contribution to the academic and cultural exchange between the Federal Republic of Germany and Canada, and in 2016, he was awarded the Sarwan Sahota Distinguished Scholar Award, which is Toronto Metropolitan University’s highest annual research award. Dr. Bauder has examined the concept of solidarity in his ongoing research in critical migration studies and at the intersection of Indigenous-migrant relations. Currently, he leads the large international partnership project Urban Sanctuary, Migrant Solidarity and Hospitality in Global Perspective (aka Soli*City).