by Cynthia G. Franklin

About Cynthia G. Franklin

Cynthia G. Franklin is Professor of English at the University of Hawai’i and author of Academic Lives: Memoir, Cultural Theory and the University Today. She is co-editor of Biography, where she recently produced a special issue on “Life in Occupied Palestine.” She is a member of the Organizing Collective of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

Boycott

book Keywords for American Cultural Studies

The OED defines “boycott” in its noun form as follows: “Withdrawal from social or commercial interaction or cooperation with a group, nation, person, etc., intended as a protest or punishment” and also “a refusal to buy certain goods or participate in a particular event, as a form of protest or punishment.” Also a verb, “boycott” is used to describe a non-violent tactic directed at inflicting economic loss, expressing principled outrage, and/or changing or ending practices considered harmful or unjust. Boycotts can refer to protests undertaken for a range of often overlapping ethical, social, political or environmental reasons: to change legislation; to challenge the legitimacy of nation states (including an occupying power); to counter corporate malfeasance; to protest racial, religious, ideological or ethnic groups or practices; to contest forms of repression; and to protest individuals with power.