Call for Papers: Protest*Ethnography –Ethnographies of Protests at the University of Bremen

Ethnography and the study of contemporary protest. Researchers are invited to explore how immersive, reflexive methods help understand the dynamics, motivations, and strategies of social movements today.

Political protest, contention, and resistance are largely taking place outside formal institutions, and studying them calls for new ethnographic approaches. The workshop Protest*Ethnography. Ethnographies of Protests – Ethnography as Protest invites researchers to reflect on how ethnography can help understand contemporary protest dynamics, including self-organized movements, platform-based networks, and the diverse motivations and strategies of participants.

The workshop will take place in person at the University of Bremen on 8–9 October 2026. Early-stage and experienced researchers are invited to submit contributions, including work in progress, by 1 April 2026. Further details and submission guidelines can be found here.

The event is co-organized by the DVPW Working Group Ethnographic Methods in Political Science (German Political Science Association) and the EU Horizon project Protest as a Democracy Test.