CNM-MOVES · Consensual Non-Monogamies and Social Movements: A Comparative Study of Activism in Portugal and the UK
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-09-01 → 2021-12-01
- EU contribution
- €212,934
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Consensual Non-Monogamies and Social Movements: A Comparative Study of Activism in Portugal and the UK
People’s intimate and sexual lives are in constant evolution, and concepts like “marriage” and “monogamy” do not have the same meaning in different cultural contexts and in different moments in history. However, not all the different ways of living are socially condoned and treated equally. Over recent decades, the discrimination and violence against intimate and sexual minorities has been challenged by diverse social movements, often called activists. While LGBTQI+ activism has widely been documented and researched in previous decades, the activism of groups working under the banner of Consensual Non-monogamy (CNM) has been virtually absent. Public debates about CNM (an umbrella term for lifestyles and practices such as swinging, polyamory, relationship anarchy, etc.) have been growing since the 1990s. Yet we know close to nothing about the history, strategies, demands, and key figures when it comes to CNM activism. Beyond that, there is a lack of research on how knowledge and strategies created by activists circulate between different countries and regions. CNM-MOVES was carried out to understand the concerns of those who engage in CNM activism in two countries, the UK and Portugal. It further aimed to understand the importance of journalistic narratives in both the marginalisation of CNMs and in the strategies of CNM activists. This research is important for society because it raises awareness about intimate and sexual diversity, tackles discrimination in the fields of culture, politics, and law and helps to understand how the intimate and sexual politics around CNM unfold within different national contexts and in the transnational sphere. The research has helped to gain knowledge of an under-studied social movement; and to create visibility for CNM activism and how it intersects with forms of politics around anti-racism, feminism, environmentalism, and LGBTQI+ movements.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
This research project focuses on the transnational comparative analysis of the similarities, differences, and connections between social movements that focus on Consensual Non-Monogamies (CNMs), both in Portugal and in the UK, with an emphasis on polyamory. It will consider how this political theme is taken up in different contexts, and how those contexts impact social movements, how they influence one another (via the geographical circulation of cultural products, activists, ideas and affects), how different macro- and micro-political strategies develop and interconnect with other social movements, and how they become enmeshed with the media representations produced about and by those groups. It focuses on the mediatization of intimate citizenship, as well as the history of activism and the interaction among social movements in Europe, and fills a gap in the extant literature on CNMs and sexual politics, opening up new understandings for Human Rights, citizenship, social and legal justice. The project takes into consideration the gendered, racial, sexual and classed aspects of political engagement and visibility, as well as the fluid definition of what is considered “political”. Funding for this project will allow the Experienced Researcher (ER) to considerably increase his academic and employability profile by advancing his position as a leading expert on CNM-related research in Europe; by improving his publication record in English; by allowing him to expand his areas of expertise into Political Theory, Sociology, Law, as well as reinforcing his expertise on gender and sexualities; by diversifying his methodological portfolio and allowing him to receive media, academic writing and PhD supervision training. MMU, the host institution, would benefit from diversifying its academic backgrounds, increase its international connections with other Higher Education Institutions, as well as its solidifying its role in the field of CNM-related research.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- THE MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY · MANCHESTERCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union