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Vulnerability in action: the role of the disabled body in shaping geographies of protest

Vulnerability in action: the role of the disabled body in shaping geographies of protest
Vulnerability in action: the role of the disabled body in shaping geographies of protest

Protest has been a long-held concern of geographers who have examined the socio-spatial practices of activists and social movements. Yet, within this corpus of work, limited attention has been paid to the role and experience of the body among those involved in protest. Drawing on a study focusing on the experiences of disabled activists organizing in response to austerity in the UK, the paper examines the use of the individual body in activism and explores how disabled people use their bodies for social change in a way that seeks to turn corporeal vulnerability into a site of defiant resistance. While vulnerability is often seen as anathema to direct-action protest, the study reveals that vulnerability can be a fundamental and inherent element of activism. The paper seeks to challenge the implicitly ableist and masculinist accounts of activism persisting in some geographic scholarship and calls for greater attention to be paid to more inclusive spaces for different embodiments.

activism, disability, embodiment, protest, Protest, austerity
1464-9365
Butler-Rees, Angharad
d68cca85-c705-4bf6-81b4-88ee58245afc
Power, Andrew
b3a1ee09-e381-413a-88ac-7cb3e13b3acc
Butler-Rees, Angharad
d68cca85-c705-4bf6-81b4-88ee58245afc
Power, Andrew
b3a1ee09-e381-413a-88ac-7cb3e13b3acc

Butler-Rees, Angharad and Power, Andrew (2025) Vulnerability in action: the role of the disabled body in shaping geographies of protest. Social & Cultural Geography. (doi:10.1080/14649365.2025.2479697).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Protest has been a long-held concern of geographers who have examined the socio-spatial practices of activists and social movements. Yet, within this corpus of work, limited attention has been paid to the role and experience of the body among those involved in protest. Drawing on a study focusing on the experiences of disabled activists organizing in response to austerity in the UK, the paper examines the use of the individual body in activism and explores how disabled people use their bodies for social change in a way that seeks to turn corporeal vulnerability into a site of defiant resistance. While vulnerability is often seen as anathema to direct-action protest, the study reveals that vulnerability can be a fundamental and inherent element of activism. The paper seeks to challenge the implicitly ableist and masculinist accounts of activism persisting in some geographic scholarship and calls for greater attention to be paid to more inclusive spaces for different embodiments.

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Vulnerability in Action February 2025 Manuscript with Author Details - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 13 February 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 March 2025
Published date: 17 March 2025
Keywords: activism, disability, embodiment, protest, Protest, austerity

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 499953
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/499953
ISSN: 1464-9365
PURE UUID: d8ef247d-1d82-4ab2-8b5e-2e63c3cd778e
ORCID for Andrew Power: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3887-1050

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 09 Apr 2025 18:44
Last modified: 04 Sep 2025 02:12

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Contributors

Author: Angharad Butler-Rees
Author: Andrew Power ORCID iD

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