Researching identity and culture in place-based struggles

There has been a growing interest in the role of agency and subjectivity in the rise of social movements. While this has entailed a renewed attention to, particularly, the study of identity and culture in collective mobilization, there is scant focus on the methodological aspects of such studies. In this chapter, I discuss how to study identity and culture in social movements from a practical research perspective and in the context of place-based socio-environmental struggles. Drawing on my qualitative, fieldwork-based study of three local, grassroots movements resisting the hydropower boom in Turkey in the mid-2000s, I reflect on and share practical insights and advice in relation to various aspects of research design, data collection and analysis for prospective researchers who are interested in exploring how identity and culture might shape place-based mobilization.