Translating the Cheddar Revolution: Mobilization through the Culture of Fields in the Wisconsin Protests of 2011

• In Event: 277 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 16. Culture and Movements 2

Abstract

In this paper, I explore why and how the Wisconsin protests of 2011—a series of demonstrations against a legislative bill with seemingly localized effects—garnered statewide, national and global support and involvement. I argue that in the protests against Governor Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Bill beginning in February of 2011, the range of participation from publics beyond the targeted group of unionized public workers in Wisconsin can be attributed to a series of discursive processes of interpretation and translation regarding the bill’s implications. That is, employing cultural symbols and practices formed through processes in the Wisconsin, American, and global strategic action fields (SAFs), actors in and beyond the immediately affected group made meaning of the bill and the protests, justified their participation, formed solidarities, and helped mobilize others. Through the convergence of these fields and cultures, the field of the Wisconsin protests emerged, in which actors encountered and acquired new cultural tools for understanding to be used in future action.

Author

• Yotala Oszkay Febres-Cordero, University of California-Los Angeles