198 Methods Activity (Gandhi Institute)
Summary
A workshop handout and activity PDF from the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence for working through the 198 methods in groups.
Body
The 198 Methods Activity is a workshop handout pack published jointly by the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence (Rochester, NY) and the Albert Einstein Institution (East Boston, MA) [source: gandhi-institute-198]. The pack is built directly on Gene Sharp’s 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action, the canonical typology of nonviolent action methods that Sharp first developed in the 1970s and that remains the standard reference list for nonviolent-action scholarship and training [source: gandhi-institute-198]. Sharp’s long-term institutional home is the Albert Einstein Institution, which is named on the title page along with the Gandhi Institute, signalling the joint authorship of the activity itself [source: gandhi-institute-198].
Coverage: 32 unique double-sided handouts, each printed front-and-back, where the front bears (1) one of 32 categories of nonviolent action, (2) the specific methods that fall under that category, (3) a real-world example of one of the methods, and (4) a discussion question; the back carries a uniform checklist of all 32 categories that participants tick off as they encounter them in conversation [source: gandhi-institute-198]. The pack is designed for 20 to 120 minutes with groups of 2 to 200, and runs in three named formats: a standard mingle-and-discuss exercise, a “Speed Dating” concentric-circle format, and a “Walking Workshop” version embedded in a march or memorial walk where participants teach each other as they move [source: gandhi-institute-198]. The setup, discussion, and reflection sequence is laid out step-by-step, including the recommended 15-minute mingle block and the closing whole-group debrief [source: gandhi-institute-198].
A campaigner reaches for this when designing a workshop on nonviolent methods - the 32 handouts are pre-cut, the discussion questions are pre-written, and the three named formats let the same materials work for a 20-minute energiser or a 2-hour deep-dive [source: gandhi-institute-198]. It is also the most accessible on-ramp to Sharp’s 198-methods typology for groups who don’t want to read the full Methods of Nonviolent Action volume. Treat as link-only: paraphrase the handout content when integrating into local training material. [source: gandhi-institute-198]
Use it for
Designing a workshop on nonviolent methods; running a methods-card exercise.
Related
- affinity-groups
- boycotts-and-strikes
- dilemma-actions
- escalation
- framing-and-narrative
- leadership-development
- methods-of-nonviolent-action
- noncooperation
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- one-to-ones
- pillars-of-support
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