Abstract Self-immolation is often interpreted as an extreme act of desperation. Scholars have long debated whether self-immolation may be categorized as violent or nonviolent protest; some point to cultural epistemologies and/or power relations in analyses of resistance. Binarist discourses on violence and protest obscure the multifaceted nature of repression, further normalizing structural and invisibilized violence. Drawing on critiques of the violence/nonviolence binary and theories of resistance, I argue that self-immolation is most accurately understood as an act of anti-violent protest, asserting the humanity and dignity of an oppressed community against the violence of the sovereign through necroresistance. The deep suffering caused by pre-existing dehumanization is made visible in this ultimate act of resistance that serves to dramatize otherwise invisible forms of systemic violence, making the theorization of self-immolation as anti-violent necroresistance vital to understanding protest.
Abstract This article addresses the role of emotions and positionality in research on protest repression in the context of states of emergency in France. The analysis is based on a qualitative study (2023–2025) concerning the experiences of protest repression among activists of antiracist, environmental, and social justice movements in Marseille. Drawing on emotion-based and performativity approaches to research methodologies and ethics, the article shows how contexts of protest repression and states of emergency are shaped by a politics of fear, which poses specific emotional challenges to activists and researchers, as well as ethical challenges to researchers. It focuses on the researcher-activist positionality and the emotion work performed by both activists and researchers, showing how emotions function as (de-)mobilizing factors in contexts of repression.
Abstract This article rethinks methods for the longitudinal study of social movements by confronting a central limitation of mainstream media–based protest event analysis (PEA): its tendency to privilege highly visible mobilization peaks over low-key actions and the latent phases in which activist networks, repertoires, and frames are incubated. It proposes a mixed-source, longitudinal research design supported by an explicit linkage protocol that integrates two layers: (1) an event-level PEA archive of protest in Spain (2000–2020); and (2) a qualitative database built through systematic content analysis of movement-aligned media. The layers are linked through shared temporal and spatial keys (date, municipality, campaign), enabling meso-level processes (internal debates, alliances, organisational norms, framing work, and responses to repression) to be traced alongside event dynamics without reducing interpretive evidence to event counts.
This article conceptualizes grassroots sociocultural centers as democratic innovations, highlighting the (everyday) care and efforts that activists invest in creating new democratic spaces. It argues that these centers function as sites where activist citizenship is continuously made and remade through participation, interaction, and cultural expression. Drawing on democratic theory, feminist critical contributions, and theorizations of creativity and citizenship, it analyzes three cases from Southeast Europe—Magacin(Belgrade), Termokiss (Prishtina), and Jadro (Skopje)—examining how they use alternative knowledge and organizational practices to contest sociopolitical contexts and cultivate social connections and shared meanings. By identifying the plurality of meanings of democracy and innovation exercised in these centers, the article proposes a care- and affect-centered perspective on democratic innovations and recognizes these spaces as political actors shaping new participatory forms and contributing to the ongoing reimagining of democratic publics.
This article offers a critical perspective on postmodern society, where consumer culture and contemporary capitalism dominate. Considering the muscular body as an artistic and analytical framework, it examines works by Cassils, Martial Cherrier, Lea Rasovszky, and Isa Fontbona. It also questions the boundaries of art, the creative agency within social structures, and the artist’s capacity to incite social critique. Drawing on the social constructivist thought of Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Judith Butler; sociological perspectives on art; and a critical view based on the philosophical and sociological work of Byung-Chul Han and Jean Baudrillard, it explores the interaction between artistic expression, identity formation, and social norms. Ultimately, this analysis aims to highlight how art not only reflects but also resists and reconfigures dominant cultural narratives, fostering a space for critical reflection and transformative discourse.
