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The Thesis Committee for Aretousa Alkmini Bloom Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: “Quelling Uprisings”: respectable bodies and the politics of cleaning APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: Bjørn Sletto Sarah Dooling “Quelling Uprisings”: respectable bodies and the politics of cleaning by Aretousa Akmini Bloom, BA Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning The University of Texas at Austin May 2012 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my readers Bjørn Sletto and Sarah Dooling for their invaluable support and guidance in writing this thesis. iii Abstract “Quelling Uprisings”: respectable bodies and the politics of cleaning Aretousa A Bloom, MSCRP The University of Texas at Austin, 2012 Supervisor: Bjørn Sletto This research examines the ways in which dominant boundaries and identities are (re)defined at the intersection of class, gender, race and nation in the context of the ‘cleanups’ that took place in the aftermath of the London riots in August 2011. Through a semiotic and discursive analysis of media photographs of the Hackney and Battersea cleanups, I explore how some bodies are allowed to belong in space while others are made ‘out of place’. In reading the photographs as a text, I pay particular attention to the performativity of the cleaning body and its relationship with brooms, gloves and other technologies of cleaning. Influenced by Anne McClintock’s (1995) analysis of 19 th Century cleaning in Imperial Leather , I explore the contemporary relevance of her work in 21 st Century London and in the context of gentrification. I also use Sara Ahmed’s (2004) work on the politics of emotions to explore the way in which fear and love allow bodies to cohere in opposition to the perceived threat of undesirable ‘others’. iv Table of Contents List of Tables ........................................................................................................ vii List of Figures ............................................................................................. viii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Methodology ..........................................................................................5 2.1. Overview ..................................................................................................5 2.2. Scoping Analysis .....................................................................................5 2.3. Interviews .................................................................................................7 2.4. Acquisition of photographs ......................................................................8 2.5. Semiotic and discursive analysis: theoretical influences .......................12 2.6. Positionality ...........................................................................................20 Chapter 3: Literature Review .................................................................................23 3.1. Overview ................................................................................................23 3.2. Embodiment ...........................................................................................23 3.3. Genealogies of middle class respectability and propriety......................29 3.4. The politics of responsibilization ...........................................................33 3. 5. Whiteness, nationalism and space.........................................................40 3. 6. Summary ...............................................................................................43 Chapter 4: Background ..........................................................................................44 4.1. Overview ................................................................................................44 4.2. Causes of protests ..................................................................................46 4.3. Media and government responses ..........................................................50 4.4. Community, local authority and online responses .................................54 4.5. Riot cleanups ..........................................................................................57 4.6 . Summary ................................................................................................65 Chapter 5: Case Studies Background .....................................................................67 5.1. Battersea background .............................................................................67 5.2. Hackney background .............................................................................80 v 5.3. Summary ................................................................................................97 Chapter 6: Analysis ...............................................................................................98 6.1. Contextual analysis of photographs .......................................................98 6.2. Newspaper context ...............................................................................111 6.3. The cleaning body ................................................................................113 6.4. The loving body ...................................................................................125 6.5. Summary ..............................................................................................130 Chapter 7: Discussion .........................................................................................132 Bibliography ........................................................................................................142 vi List of Tables Table 1: Latchmere and Shaftesbury Wards, Wandsworth Borough, London and England Ethnic Group Statistics .......................................................72 Table 2: Hackney Central Ward, Hackney Borough, London and England Ethnic Group Statistics .................................................................................87 Table 3: Quantitative analysis of riot cleanup photograph taken in Battersea and Hackney. .........................................................................................100 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Map showing where the Battersea and Hackney clean-ups took place ..67 Figure 2: Wandsworth Indices of Multiple of Deprivation Map 2007. Source: Based on Ordinance Survey material, 2008 (Department of Health, 2008).74 Figure 3: Battersea cleanup participants waiting. Source: You Tube (the wrongwayaround, 2011) ...................................................................78 Figure 4: Boris Johnson visits the Battersea cleanup. Source: You Tube (teabagnose, 2011) .................................................................................................78 Figure 5: Hackney Indices of Multiple Deprivation Map 2010. Source: Indices of Deprivation, CLG 2010. Map created by Hackney Council (2010b).89 Figure 6: Riot cleanup participants checking their phones at Hackney Town Hall (McDevitt, 2011b).............................................................................96 Figure 7: Hackney riot cleanup. Source: Flickr (Carrasco, 2011) .......................104 Figure 8: Hackney riot cleanup. Source: Flickr (stephbosset, 2011a) .................104 Figure 9: Battersea riot cleanup. Source: Mail Online (Bayles, 2011) ................105 Figure 10: Battersea riot cleanup. Source: Flickr (Herring 2011, 2011) .............107 Figure 11: Battersea riot cleanup. Source: Flickr (linniekin, 2011) ....................107 Figure 12: Minute of silence on Clarence Road. Source: Flickr (stephbosset, 2011b) .........................................................................................................109 Figure 13: Cleanup participants walking on Mare Street. Source: Flickr (Carrasco, 2011). ..............................................................................................109 Figure 14: Battersea riot cleanup, St John’s Road. Source: Mail Online (“Clapham clean-up”, 2011). .............................................................................114 viii Figure 15: Council workers clearing remains of car on Clarence Road, Hackney. Source: The Telegraph (Cawthra, 2011) .........................................121 Figure 16: Battersea riot cleanup. Source: Emma Gutteridge (2011) ..................122 Figure 17: Hackney riot cleanup. Source: Flickr (Carrasco, 2011c) ..................122 Figure 18: Woman collecting forensic evidence from riots, Manchester. Source: International Business Times (Reuters, 2011a) ..............................123 Figure 19: Australian ‘anti-terror’ ad (Chemical Security, 2010). ......................124 Figure 20: Riot Cleanup logo (Riot Cleanup, 2011) ............................................124 Figure 21. Battersea riot cleanup. Source: Mail Online (Reuters, 2011b). ..........125 Figure 22: “Hugs not thugs”. Source: areyouhavingabubble (2011a) .................127 Figure 23: “Love vs Fear. Choose the right one”. Source: areyouhavingabubble (2011c) ............................................................................................127 Figure 24: Hackney riot cleanup cyclist. Source: Flickr (Carrasco, 2011c) ........130 Figure 25: British Newspaper Front Pages, August 9, 2011. Source: Huffington Post (“London Riots”, 2011). .................................................................132