Social Movements and Intercultural Communication Research Paper: In this assignment, you will have the
opportunity to research how groups in the U.S. have worked to confront and transform oppression through
learning about social movements, activism, and communication. The growing emphasis on collective action
raises new questions for research and practice in communication for development and social change. For
example, what actors drive processes of collective action? What are the communication features of their
interventions? What type of social change processes do they enhance? What communication theoretical
frameworks inform our understanding of collective action and social change? The project involves connecting
our course materials and discussions to outside materials in order to make an informed analysis of how and why
forms of oppression have been challenged and how social gains have been made through group communication
(local, regional, national or international). Your paper will should be 8-10 pages long. Please put your best effort
into this, as it is worth 20% of your final grade.
In this paper, you will need to demonstrate all of the following:
An understanding of the systemic and institutional nature of oppression;
An understanding of the histories and issues of social identities/social locations of the dominant and subordinate
groups that are involved in a form of oppression;
A historical analysis of how and why the social movement emerged;
An understanding of how the social movement participants understood the workings of social injustice that they
sought to challenge;
An understanding of the activities of the social movement, its participants, visions, and communication
strategies;
An understanding of whether the social movement addressed more than communication issue and/or social
injustice
An understanding of what the social movement achieved specifically and what still has yet to be achieved
regarding the ending of oppression and improving communication between groups.
Some social movements that you may be interested in researching can span from recent movements (Black
Lives, Me Too, Indigenous People Movement) to previous decades or centuries (Occupy Wall Street, Gay
Liberation Movement, Civil Rights, Women’s Suffrage, The U.S. Abolitionist Movement, Environmental
Movement).

Sample Solution