3rd Research Forum session of the academic year 2024-2025

Date: Thursday, January 16th, 2025

Time:  12pm 1:30pm

Room:  40.035, Sala de Graus Calsamiglia, Campus Ciutadella

Speaker: Aya Adra, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Chair: Veronica Benet-Martínez, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Presentation - Psychological dynamics of repression and counter-repression.

Abstract

This talk will center on the repression paradox: the finding that while state repression sometimes seems to engender the demobilization of protest, at others it seems to bolster collective action. By presenting data from different social movements to illustrate the paradox, and a theoretical framework that aims to unpack it, the talk will argue that multilevel approach linking structural and individual levels of analysis is crucial to further our understanding of when and for whom state repression succeeds (versus backfires) at quelling dissent. 

About the Speaker

Aya Adra is an Assistant Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. She obtained her bachelor and master degrees from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and her PhD from the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn, Germany. She is broadly interested in intergroup relations and the psychological dynamics of social justice. Her work focuses on collective action and protest, particularly in the shadow of state repression on one hand, and when undertaken in solidarity with outgroup members on the other.