Performing authenticities cultural forms and their functions in the Reclaim the Streets -protest

In this thesis I study the role of culture in the context of social movements. I argue that the role of concrete cultural forms in protest movements’ action has undergone a rather small interest in the Finnish study of social movements. I examine culture in social movements by looking at the “cultur...

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Main Author: Yliselä, Aura
Other Authors: Yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta, Faculty of Social Sciences, Yhteiskuntatieteiden ja filosofian laitos, Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylän yliopisto
Format: Master's thesis
Language:eng
Published: 2007
Subjects:
Online Access: https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/38378
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author Yliselä, Aura
author2 Yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta Faculty of Social Sciences Yhteiskuntatieteiden ja filosofian laitos Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylän yliopisto
author_facet Yliselä, Aura Yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta Faculty of Social Sciences Yhteiskuntatieteiden ja filosofian laitos Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylän yliopisto Yliselä, Aura Yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta Faculty of Social Sciences Yhteiskuntatieteiden ja filosofian laitos Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylän yliopisto
author_sort Yliselä, Aura
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description In this thesis I study the role of culture in the context of social movements. I argue that the role of concrete cultural forms in protest movements’ action has undergone a rather small interest in the Finnish study of social movements. I examine culture in social movements by looking at the “cultural turn” in social sciences, the rise of “new social movements” and through the theorizing of Pierre Bourdieu, Sarah Thornton and Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison. I conceptualize culture as both the concrete cultural praxis (e.g. music, art, dancing) and as a semiotic and cognitive system behind all action. As an empirical case study, I adopt a cultural perspective towards one protest movement, the Finnish Reclaim the Streets –movement, which I consider as a cultural and expressive form of collective action. The Reclaim the Streets -demonstrations are political carnivals, acts of non-violent civil disobedience. The idea is to block a city street from car traffic for couple of hours or one day. A party is held on the street. The idea behind the protest is a critique of private traffic and of global capitalism. Using qualitative methods I examine the role of concrete cultural forms, such as music, visual art and bodily habitus in the Reclaim the Streets –protest. My empirical data consists of 5 theme interviews with the protestors, analysis of flyers, posters and www-pages produced by the activists (micro-media) and an ethnographical participatory observation with one activist group in organizing a Reclaim the Streets –event, and attending 3 Reclaim the Streets –protests in 2 different Finnish cities. I analyze this data qualitatively by looking up themes according to my research questions. The results of my thesis show that the cultural forms that the protestors are using have important functions in the protest. I divide these functions to pragmatic and symbolic functions. The pragmatic functions are related to the protestors’ subcultural capital, their ability to utilize subcultural resources and cultural meanings in order to recruit sympathizers and make the protest event work. On a symbolic level, according to my theoretical interpretation the cultural forms are representing a counter-cultural authenticity which opposes a constructed commercial mainstream. I theorize that this performed countercultural authenticity is an important aspect in producing the movement’s cohesion and cognitive praxis in Eyerman and Jamison’s terms.
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I argue that the role\nof concrete cultural forms in protest movements\u2019 action has undergone a rather small interest\nin the Finnish study of social movements. I examine culture in social movements by looking at\nthe \u201ccultural turn\u201d in social sciences, the rise of \u201cnew social movements\u201d and through the\ntheorizing of Pierre Bourdieu, Sarah Thornton and Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison. I\nconceptualize culture as both the concrete cultural praxis (e.g. music, art, dancing) and as a\nsemiotic and cognitive system behind all action.\nAs an empirical case study, I adopt a cultural perspective towards one protest\nmovement, the Finnish Reclaim the Streets \u2013movement, which I consider as a cultural and\nexpressive form of collective action. The Reclaim the Streets -demonstrations are political\ncarnivals, acts of non-violent civil disobedience. The idea is to block a city street from car\ntraffic for couple of hours or one day. A party is held on the street. The idea behind the protest\nis a critique of private traffic and of global capitalism. Using qualitative methods I examine\nthe role of concrete cultural forms, such as music, visual art and bodily habitus in the Reclaim\nthe Streets \u2013protest. My empirical data consists of 5 theme interviews with the protestors,\nanalysis of flyers, posters and www-pages produced by the activists (micro-media) and an\nethnographical participatory observation with one activist group in organizing a Reclaim the\nStreets \u2013event, and attending 3 Reclaim the Streets \u2013protests in 2 different Finnish cities. I\nanalyze this data qualitatively by looking up themes according to my research questions.\nThe results of my thesis show that the cultural forms that the protestors are using have\nimportant functions in the protest. I divide these functions to pragmatic and symbolic\nfunctions. 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spellingShingle Yliselä, Aura Performing authenticities : cultural forms and their functions in the Reclaim the Streets -protest Reclaim the Streets Yhteiskuntapolitiikka Social Policy 209 sosiaaliset liikkeet kulttuuri protestit
title Performing authenticities : cultural forms and their functions in the Reclaim the Streets -protest
title_full Performing authenticities : cultural forms and their functions in the Reclaim the Streets -protest
title_fullStr Performing authenticities : cultural forms and their functions in the Reclaim the Streets -protest Performing authenticities : cultural forms and their functions in the Reclaim the Streets -protest
title_full_unstemmed Performing authenticities : cultural forms and their functions in the Reclaim the Streets -protest Performing authenticities : cultural forms and their functions in the Reclaim the Streets -protest
title_short Performing authenticities
title_sort performing authenticities cultural forms and their functions in the reclaim the streets protest
title_sub cultural forms and their functions in the Reclaim the Streets -protest
title_txtP Performing authenticities : cultural forms and their functions in the Reclaim the Streets -protest
topic Reclaim the Streets Yhteiskuntapolitiikka Social Policy 209 sosiaaliset liikkeet kulttuuri protestit
topic_facet 209 Reclaim the Streets Social Policy Yhteiskuntapolitiikka kulttuuri protestit sosiaaliset liikkeet
url https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/38378 http://www.urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-201208242245
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