THERE IS POWER in a PLAZA: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, DEMOCRACY, and SPATIAL POLITICS by Kaitlin Kelly-Thompson
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THERE IS POWER IN A PLAZA: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, DEMOCRACY, AND SPATIAL POLITICS by Kaitlin Kelly-Thompson A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science West Lafayette, Indiana August 2020 THE PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE APPROVAL Dr. S. Laurel Weldon, Chair Department of Political Science Dr. Valeria Sinclair-Chapman Department of Political Science Dr. Rachel L. Einwohner Department of Sociology Dr. Mary Scudder Department of Political Science Approved by: Dr. Cherie D. Maestas 2 For my sister, Stryker, for being my reason to try to make a better world, and for doing more than I ever could to get us there. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Just as cities can facilitate the development of inclusive social movements, my community provided both the material and intellectual support for me while I developed and wrote this dissertation. From the colleagues and mentors who pushed me to develop my theoretical framework to the friends and family who let me couch surf while conducting fieldwork, I could not have finished this without your support and solidarity. First and foremost, this dissertation would not have come into being without the support of my advisor S. Laurel Weldon. Your guidance led me to find my intellectual home, and your inspiring chaos has taught me to think big. Throughout this process, you have modelled the best kind of productive critique pushing both me and the project to become the best it could possibly be, while reminding me to not bury important findings with my own tendency to downplay the positives. I must also recognize the feedback and mentorship I received from my committee members, Valeria Sinclair-Chapman, Rachel L. Einwohner, and Molly Scudder. Thank you for your comments on the many different versions of this project that have passed through your hands. Val and Rachel, I have learned more about the writing and research process from working with you than I could imagine. Likewise, I must thank the larger political science community who made this possible. I must thank, Pat Boling, and Aaron Hoffman for their support and mentorship. Pat, without you the political science department would have been a much darker place. Thank you for not only for pushing my writing and theorizing, but for helping me find my people in the cycling community in Lafayette and being a source of support both in the office and on the road. Aaron, thank you for reminding me to make decisions about where I want my work to go based on what I want, and to believe in my ability to do the work. A big thank you to Dr. Jessica Trounstine of the University of California, Merced for generously sharing her segregation data for U.S. cities with me. Finally, a great deal of appreciation for the comments provided by Dr. Dawn Teele of the University of Pennsylvania on early versions of Chapter 3 and for the comments provided by Dr. Michael Heaney of the University of Michigan on an early version of Chapter 4. 4 Finishing this dissertation, was made possible by the support of the Purdue Research Foundation which provided the grant that supported me during the final year of field work and writing. Graduate school can be a difficult place, but it is much more tolerable with the right community. To my mentor, colleague, collaborator, and comrade, Summer Forester, who knew you’d never get rid of that very nervous graduate student you showed around Purdue’s campus in August 2014. Thank you for helping me navigate the byzantine maze that is academia, introducing me to Great British Bake Off, and for enduring many a rapid fire text message mentorship crises. Likewise, a thank you to Amber Lusvardi, for all of our distanced writing accountability days in the home stretch, and for your amazing schemes to get around exclusionary spatial practices re: the beach. My colleagues, Kate Hapaala, Heather Cann, Walter Schostak, Guillermo Caballero, and Micheal Simrak, who made the whole process a little more supportive, and a little more fun, from the Beering basement to the Palmer House Lobby. Not only would this dissertation not have come into being, but I would not be the person I am without my family. My Dad, Paul Thompson, thank you for teaching me to treat any outing I wanted to avoid like a chance for participant-observation, how to be an urban cyclist, and how to cook lentils: it turns out those were the skills I needed to survive graduate school. Beyond that, thank you Dad for picking me up from the airport with Taco Cabana when my plane got delayed and I had to go straight to an interview. To my Ryan Miniot, thank you for being a supportive and loving partner, but also for making sure I ate, and that our apartment was not sacrificed on the altar of the dissertation. Stryker, thank you for being my sister, and reading the books I assign you as Christmas gifts so we can talk about them. For my grandmothers, Suzi and Susan, thank you for always supporting me in this process. Thank you to my cats, Trisket and Islay, for all your ‘help’ writing, reading, and using STATA. In many ways this dissertation has been enabled by some of my oldest friendships. Kim Sousa, whose couch and pugs made my field work in Pittsburgh possible, you are my favorite poet and a radical voice that is needed in this moment. Kate Kelly, you taught me about agonistic dissent before I even knew who Arendt and Mouffe were, thank you for 16 years of arguments and for pulling me out of books and into the streets back when we were little whippersnappers. Your efforts to organize school walk outs in middle school and political insight planted seeds long ago that (I hope) are finally coming to fruition. 5 In many ways the questions that shape this dissertation were a product of my own experiences learning from the feminists I met within and through Bicycle Lafayette. Rose Kaczmarowski, I will forever be thankful for your friendship and for your mentorship as an activist. Our bike rides and de-briefing sessions kept me grounded and reminded me why I was working on this dissertation in the first place. Shannon Stanis, thank you for many delicious vegan meals, the best hugs, and being such a great writing buddy. Lauren Bruce, thank you for beautiful rides and a deep understanding of the local community. Mel Gruver, I am so grateful that I was able to learn from you while organizing with you, you are a powerhouse and I am in constant awe of the new futures you are creating through your work. Without the friends who kept be grounded, I may have never left the house and become quite mad by the end of this process. Kristie Miley, you reminded me that hard work should be balanced with plenty of bike rides in the fresh night air. Ashley Vasquez, you inspire me with your amazing work ethic, I’ve never laughed so much working out as I have with you. Dan Axmacher, Hava Yoast-Hull, Sean Clifford, Wes Fiorentino, and Katherine Luddington, thank you for listening to inpromptu lectures at trivia. Yvonne Robles, riding bikes with you and getting through that 25 pound bag of flour kept me sane while writing through the pandemic. Janel Jett, our pokemon go mentorship walks are still my favorite way to take a break. Last but not least, thank you San Antonio. My life changed forever the day I met you, and on your streets, I first began asking questions about how the inequitable city shapes our daily lives. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ 10 LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... 11 LIST OF IMAGES ........................................................................................................................ 12 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. 13 INTRODUCTION: FROM THE UNEQUAL CITY TO INCLUSIVE ORGANIZING ............. 14 Theoretical Approach: Why and How Spatial Dimensions of Protest Deepen Democracy ...... 15 Research Design......................................................................................................................... 19 Gezi Park Protests Case ......................................................................................................... 21 The Women’s March Cases ................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 1: PRODUCING DEMOCRATIC SPACE AT GEZI PARK: DEVELOPING INCLUSIVE SOLIDARITY THROUGH EMBODIED PROTEST AND CRITICAL GRAFFITI ....................................................................................................................................................... 26 Gezi Park: Challenging the State’s control of Space ................................................................. 27 Including Difference and Productive Dissent: Agonistic Politics ............................................. 29 Creating and Limiting Space for Democratic Engagement ....................................................... 32 Potential Radical Spatial Practices: Occupation & Graffiti ....................................................... 34 Occupation: Destabilizing Norms through Lived Bodies ...................................................... 34 Graffiti in Gezi: Claiming Space for Who? ..........................................................................