Constructing Spaces of Resistance and Contention in the 2010-2011 University of Puerto Rico Student Movement Alessandra M
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-23-2015 Resistance Performances: (Re)constructing Spaces of Resistance and Contention in the 2010-2011 University of Puerto Rico Student Movement Alessandra M. Rosa Florida International University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Human Geography Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Social Media Commons, and the Social Psychology and Interaction Commons Recommended Citation Rosa, Alessandra M., "Resistance Performances: (Re)constructing Spaces of Resistance and Contention in the 2010-2011 University of Puerto Rico Student Movement" (2015). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1865. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1865 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida RESISTANCE PERFORMANCES: (RE)CONSTRUCTING SPACES OF RESISTANCE AND CONTENTION IN THE 2010-2011 UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO STUDENT MOVEMENT A dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of the DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in GLOBAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL STUDIES by Alessandra M. Rosa 2015 To: Dean Michael R. Heithaus College of Arts and Science This dissertation, written by Alessandra M. Rosa, and entitled Resistance Performances: (re)Constructing Spaces of Resistance and Contention in the 2010- 2011 University of Puerto Rico Student Movement, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for your judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommended that it be approved. __________________________________ Caroline Faria __________________________________ Andrea Queeley __________________________________ Mark Padilla __________________________________ Dionne Stephens __________________________________ Jorge Duany, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 23, 2015 The dissertation of Alessandra M. Rosa is approved. __________________________________ Dean Michael R. Heithaus College of Arts and Sciences __________________________________ Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2015 ii © Copyright 2015 by Alessandra M. Rosa All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION A tod@s l@s estudiantes en pie de lucha por una educación pública accesible y de calidad para el pueblo. A mi pupa que llego a mi vida en el momento perfecto, cuando menos lo esperaba y quizás más necesitaba. ¡Gracias! iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to acknowledge my friends, family, colleagues, secretaries, and professors without whose support, both emotionally and academically; this dissertation would not have been possible. I must recognize the unconditional support provided by my family and friends during these academic years. In particular my mother, who instilled in me the desire for knowledge in addition to the faith and perseverance needed to achieve your dreams. To my colleagues, secretaries, and committee members who have become my academic family, I will be forever grateful. The amount of enthusiasm and dedication shown by you all inspired me to push my limits and challenge myself in more ways than one. My unreserved appreciation goes to Dr. Caroline Faria who has supported me from the inception of this study and gave me the insight that I needed to trust in myself. Her thoughtful feedback and suggestions made this work achievable and the writing process bearable. I hope everyone can be blessed to have a mentor like her. Dr. Jorge Duany has been an asset to my committee since his arrival and his encouragement of my creative ideas during the writing process helped me to understand my positionality as an activist researcher. He is a true inspiration for me as a critical scholar. Dr. Andrea Queeley imparted to me her commitment to go above and beyond academic duty with her detailed comments that only made this work stronger. Dr. Mark Padilla provided me with insights on successfully conducting a critical ethnography through his own work. Dr. Dionne Stephens has encouraged me to be an insightful scholar not only with my research but as a professor as well. v There are numerous other people dispersed globally that have made valuable contributions to this study. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to mention and thank them all here. Thank you, Dr. Justo Méndez Colón, for all of our tertulias over coffee and for making me believe in myself as a sociocultural anthropologist. Dr. Maritza Stanchich at the University of Puerto Rico has been a mentor and role model as an ardent advocate in favor of the student movement and the right to an accessible public higher education of excellence. I am indebted to Lucia Baez and her mother, Stella Buenaventura, who bestowed on me their love, blessings, and contagious energy during the normal solitary writing process. Similarly, this dissertation was made possible by the generous financial support I received during different stages of the process. I am thankful for FIU’s Teaching Assistantships and Fellowships obtained from our Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies and the College of Arts and Sciences. In particular, I am grateful for receiving the Dissertation Year Fellowship (DYF) as well as the Morris and Anita Broad Research Fellowship during my writing process in order to fully delve myself into my research. To the student activists who accepted me as comrade in the struggle for an accessible public higher education as a right and not a privilege, I am humbled and full of gratitude. I hope that my work is truly worthy of our cause! vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION RESISTANCE PERFORMANCES: (RE)CONSTRUCTING SPACES OF RESISTANCE AND CONTENTION IN THE 2010-2011 UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO STUDENT MOVEMENT by Alessandra M. Rosa Florida International University, 2015 Miami, Florida Professor Jorge Duany, Major Professor On the night of April 20, 2010, a group of students from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Río Piedras campus, met to organize an indefinite strike that quickly broadened into a defense of accessible public higher education of excellence as a fundamental right and not a privilege. Although the history of student activism in the UPR can be traced back to the early 1900s, the 2010-2011 strike will be remembered for the student activists’ use of new media technologies as resources that rapidly prompted and aided the numerous protests. This activist research entailed a critical ethnography and a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of traditional and alternative media coverage and treatment during the 2010 -2011 UPR student strike. I examined the use of the 2010-2011 UPR student activists’ resistance performances in constructing local, corporeal, and virtual spaces of resistance and contention during their movement. In particular, I analyzed the different tactics and strategies of resistance or repertoire of collective actions that student activists used (e.g. new media technologies) to frame their collective vii identities via alternative news media’s (re)presentation of the strike, while juxtaposing the university administration’s counter-resistance performances in counter-framing the student activists’ collective identity via traditional news media representations of the strike. I illustrated how both traditional and alternative media (re)presentations of student activism developed, maintained, and/or modified students activists’ collective identities. As such, the UPR student activism’s success should not be measured by the sum of demands granted, but by the sense of community achieved and the establishment of networks that continue to create resistance and change. These networks add to the debate surrounding Internet activism and its impact on student activism. Ultimately, the results of this study highlight the important role student movements have had in challenging different types of government policies and raising awareness of the importance of an accessible public higher education of excellence. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................1 Present Research Focus …………………………………………………………...4 Background of the Study …………………………………………………………5 Site Description: University of Puerto Rico (UPR) .……………………………...7 Río Piedras: Ciudad Universitaria ...….………………………………………..8 The Río Piedras Campus (UPRRP) ...………………………………………….9 About the Selected Media ……………………………………………………….11 “El Nuevo Día” ………………………………………………………………11 “El Vocero” …………………………………………………………………..12 “Estudiantes de la UPR Informan” (EUPRI) ………………………………...13 “Desde Adentro” (DA) ……………………………………………………….14 “Radio Huelga” (RH) ………………………………………………………..15 Outline of the Study ……………………………………………………………16 Purpose of the Study …………………………………………………………….19 CHAPTER II: THEORIZING THE RESEARCH …...……………………………...21 Rites of Passage: Entering the Field …………………………………………….21 Social Movement Theories ……………………………………………………...24 Framing Theory and Frame Analysis ……………………………………….25 Collective Identity and Network Analysis …………………………………..27 Media Practices ………………………………………………………………….30 Traditional Media ……………………………………………………………32 Alternative Media …………………………………………………………...35