Movements, Urban Contexts, and Place-based Identities: The Case of Black Lives Matter Protests in Portland

• In Event: 41014 - Cop Cities and Abolition: Law and Order Backlash Politics and Urban Resistance

Abstract

Building on previous research on social movements, place, and identity, this paper examines how social movements and places are interconnected and how place-based identities may be impacted by waves of public protest. Using the case of Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Oregon, in 2020, I examine the spread of the movement events across the city and study how participating in protests changed perceptions of Portland and activists’ relations to the city.
Using online archival research, mapping tools, and in-depth interviews, I study the location and spatial organization of events and the ways in which the movement shaped and changed participants’ relation to Portland and their place-based identities. For the first part, I draw on data from protest events in Portland over the course of summer 2020 and show the diversity of the events and the places where they were held. I argue that organizing different types of events in different types of spaces reflects a wider public participation. For the second part, I use interviewees’ perceptions and experiences to discuss how the movement shaped or changed their relation to Portland and impacted their place-based identities. I identify five categories of engagement with Portland as it went through protests: embeddedness in place; ownership and fighting; developing connection; surprise or wake up moments; and desire to change. I explain the implications of using place as a way to understand broader movement dynamics and the impacts of movements on place-based identities.

Author

• Jaleh Jalili, Rice University