Boundaries of Dissent: Protest and State Power in the Media Age

ISBN: 0415948738

Author: Bruce D'Arcus

Boundaries of Dissent looks at the way that political protest, as it is shaped through the space-time collapsing power of media, questions national identity and state authority. Through this lens of protest politics, Bruce D'Arcus examines how public and private space is symbolically mediated-the way that power and dissent are articulated in the contemporary media. Along the way, he addresses broader questions about the relationships between contemporary power and identity, citizenship and marginality, and society and geographic space. Further, he sets forth ways to distinguish legitimate protest from illegitimate dissent. In order to accomplish this task, D'Arcus looks at four case studies: the violent protests at the 1968 Democratic convention; the 1973 occupation of the Wounded Knee reservation; the 1999 rescue and subsequent custody battle over Elia n Gonza lez; and the 1999 anti-globalization protests in Seattle and Que bec City. D'Arcus argues for ways in which to usefully study thesecases, demonstrating the way that citizenship is socially constructed and how it is tied to concrete space.