Resistance and Hope in Balance: Toward a Complementary Conceptual Framework

Abstract

Despite substantial scholarship on resistance and the politics of hope, their interrelation remains insufficiently theorized. This article addresses this gap by advancing two arguments: first, that resistance and hope are conceptually and analytically complementary; and second, that hope, understood as a political orientation, is embedded in and enacted through everyday acts of resistance. Emphasizing the transformative potential of such action, we draw on three empirically grounded cases from Africa, Asia and North America. These cases, though geographically and contextually distinct, collectively illuminate how individuals mobilize hope and resistance within socio-political landscapes shaped by border regimes, structural violence, and systemic exclusion.