Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities
Abstract
My purpose in this article is to outline the potential of grief to be foundational to a collectivist politics of solidarity and interdependence. Drawing on research in human psychology, I will argue that because people form core beliefs based more on emotion than rationality, movements for justice and equality must utilize emotion to convince people to dedicate time and energy to helping their cause. Defined in this article as a process of reconstructing one’s “world of meaning” and very identity in the face of loss, grief is by nature transformative. Grief also challenges atomistic conceptions of individuality to reframe how organizers should understand self-interest, the constellation of forces that motivates a person to act. Strong bonds of solidarity in large social groups allow us to grieve for strangers, which can be the basis of social movements. Grief and solidarity can both be used in service of structures of domination as well, in particular by making certain lives “ungrievable.” I will examine the role of grief and solidarity in two contemporary US social movements, Black Lives Matter and IfNotNow, before discussing the obligations and promise of “transformative solidarity.”
Recommended Citation
K, Gabe
(2025)
"Solidaristic Grief: A Framework for Political Organizing,"
Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities: Vol. 14:
Iss.
1, Article 12.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/tapestries/vol14/iss1/12
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