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Politicizing the body in the anti-mining protest in Greece

Politicizing the body in the anti-mining protest in Greece
Politicizing the body in the anti-mining protest in Greece

Although organization and management scholars are beginning to research opposition and dissent emerging in response to the global financial crisis, there are few accounts or feminist analyses of social movements and women’s mobilizations as an important part of these movements. We address this gap by considering a case of women activists opposing extractivist mining in Chalkidiki, Greece, to demonstrate their crucial role in initiating and organizing resistance within their communities. Drawing theoretical inspiration from social reproduction theory and the literature on embodied protest as a form of political action, we argue that women use diverse means to promote the politics of visibility, erasing public and private distinctions as they defend their communities’ right to live in unpolluted environments. By way of contribution, we enhance understanding of the role of affective embodiment as a foundation for activist feminist practices; develop a theory of the protesting body altering spatial relations as a means to oppose the neoliberal assault on life and environment; and suggest how this might prefigure new political practices in the context of social movements. We identify the implications of this theorization and call for academics’ deeper sustained engagement in activism.

Affective Turn, Butler, Gender, Resistance, embodiment, extractivism, crisis, precarity, activist resistance, protesting body, reproductive labour, Federici
0170-8406
1-26
Fotaki, Marianna
889ac382-e527-4df3-8d53-e93e8ca0adbc
Daskalaki, Maria
6c5ac39d-95f5-4dc1-98cc-ad2f80b3f0fa
Fotaki, Marianna
889ac382-e527-4df3-8d53-e93e8ca0adbc
Daskalaki, Maria
6c5ac39d-95f5-4dc1-98cc-ad2f80b3f0fa

Fotaki, Marianna and Daskalaki, Maria (2020) Politicizing the body in the anti-mining protest in Greece. Organization Studies, 0, 1-26. (doi:10.1177/0170840619882955).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Although organization and management scholars are beginning to research opposition and dissent emerging in response to the global financial crisis, there are few accounts or feminist analyses of social movements and women’s mobilizations as an important part of these movements. We address this gap by considering a case of women activists opposing extractivist mining in Chalkidiki, Greece, to demonstrate their crucial role in initiating and organizing resistance within their communities. Drawing theoretical inspiration from social reproduction theory and the literature on embodied protest as a form of political action, we argue that women use diverse means to promote the politics of visibility, erasing public and private distinctions as they defend their communities’ right to live in unpolluted environments. By way of contribution, we enhance understanding of the role of affective embodiment as a foundation for activist feminist practices; develop a theory of the protesting body altering spatial relations as a means to oppose the neoliberal assault on life and environment; and suggest how this might prefigure new political practices in the context of social movements. We identify the implications of this theorization and call for academics’ deeper sustained engagement in activism.

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Accepted/In Press date: 18 September 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 13 February 2020
Keywords: Affective Turn, Butler, Gender, Resistance, embodiment, extractivism, crisis, precarity, activist resistance, protesting body, reproductive labour, Federici

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 443297
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/443297
ISSN: 0170-8406
PURE UUID: 3bcc97c3-8163-48be-90fd-fff16a0730a8
ORCID for Maria Daskalaki: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7860-1955

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Date deposited: 20 Aug 2020 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 08:58

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Contributors

Author: Marianna Fotaki
Author: Maria Daskalaki ORCID iD

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