Cultural Barriers to Activist Networking: Habitus (In)action in Three European Transnational Encounters

Cristina Flesher Fominaya

doi:10.1111/anti.12166

Cultural Barriers to Activist Networking: Habitus (In)action in Three European Transnational Encounters

Cristina Flesher Fominaya

Sociology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Transnational coordination is a key aspiration of activists seeking to mobilize globally, yet the literature pays insufficient attention to the impact of cultural differences on transnational networking. In this article I draw on ethnographic data from three European autonomous social movement encounters in the Global Justice Movement (2002–2004) to demonstrate the impact of culture clashes between activists on transna- tional networking. I use the concept of habitus to explore how routinized, taken for granted, symbolic systems of meaning that individuals from shared locations have in common shape their interactions in transnational encounters. This conception of culture is underutilized in social movement analysis yet offers important insights into internal movement dynamics. I argue that despite the autonomous commitment to radical open- ness and plurality, a lack of attention to the empirical reality of place-based activist subcul- tures and habitus actually works against the “cosmopolitanism” that many activists and scholars aspire to.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	151-171
Number of pages	21
Journal	Antipode
Volume	48
Issue number	1
Early online date	15 Jun 2015
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12166
Publication status	Published - Jan 2016

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Clare Saunders, Christoph Haug, Colin Barker, Jeremy Shulz and Lesley Wood for helpful feedback, suggestions or enthusiasm. As usual, this does not imply their endorsement of these arguments. Thank you to Britta Baumgarten, Priska Daphi, Peter Ullrich and the participants in the Culture/Protest workshops in Berlin, especially Erik Neveu and Andreas Petenkoffer, for very helpful criticism on the theoretical treatment of habit(us). Thank you also to the anonymous reviewers and the editors of Antipode for their constructive criticism which improved the final version. I am grateful for funding from the John L. Simpson Foundation, the German Marshall Fund, and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship. As always, my heartfelt thanks to all the activists who share their thoughts, spaces and experiences with me and without whom my work would be impossible.

Keywords

autonomous movements
transnational networks
culture
habitus
Global Justice Movement
Europe
politics

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abstract = "Transnational coordination is a key aspiration of activists seeking to mobilize globally, yet the literature pays insufficient attention to the impact of cultural differences on transnational networking. In this article I draw on ethnographic data from three European autonomous social movement encounters in the Global Justice Movement (2002–2004) to demonstrate the impact of culture clashes between activists on transna- tional networking. I use the concept of habitus to explore how routinized, taken for granted, symbolic systems of meaning that individuals from shared locations have in common shape their interactions in transnational encounters. This conception of culture is underutilized in social movement analysis yet offers important insights into internal movement dynamics. I argue that despite the autonomous commitment to radical open- ness and plurality, a lack of attention to the empirical reality of place-based activist subcul- tures and habitus actually works against the “cosmopolitanism” that many activists and scholars aspire to.",

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Cultural Barriers to Activist Networking: Habitus (In)action in Three European Transnational Encounters

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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