Bodies that Rebell

• In Event: Sociology of the Body and Embodiment Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 4: Embodiment in Politics, Resistance, and Social Movements

Abstract

While social movement studies have largely focused on the structural, organizational, and cognitive elements that lead to social activism; scholarship on the techniques of the body has largely adopted a constructivist view and overlooks the subjectivity of actors. This paper brings together these two bodies of literature that can complement each other. The incorporation of “body” into the social movement literature draws our attention to the material foundations of practices and the embodiment of protesting actions. Meanwhile, the analysis of “rebelling bodies” casts light upon the human “agency” developed through embodied practices. The paper identifies three techniques of the body utilized by protesters: taking up time, occupying spaces, and mobilizing senses. It hypothesizes that the bodily tactics that protesters adopt are fundamentally rooted in their interaction with the authorities. The hypotheses are tested mainly using three examples: strikes in labor movements, die-ins in the Black Lives Matter movement, and hunger strikes in prison riots. Although these three examples appear to be consistent with the hypotheses, there is ample space for more rigorous testing and analysis.

Author

• Weijun Yuan, The University of Chicago