1. Silencing to Give Voice: Backstage Preparations in the Undocumented Youth Movement in Los Angeles
- Author
-
Walter J. Nicholls, T.R. Fiorito, Political Sociology (AISSR, FMG), and Sociology
- Subjects
050402 sociology ,Sociology and Political Science ,Movement (music) ,media_common.quotation_subject ,05 social sciences ,Media studies ,SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities ,0506 political science ,Cross-cultural psychology ,0504 sociology ,Feeling ,Ethnography ,050602 political science & public administration ,Natural (music) ,Sociology ,Social science ,Discipline ,media_common ,Social movement - Abstract
Building upon intensive ethnographic research on the undocumented youth movement in Los Angeles, this paper investigates the backstage work done by the leaders and activists within a movement to create cohesive and disciplined frontstage performances. These backstage techniques and strategies are important to examine because frontstage unity is not natural or automatic. As most campaigns are made up of heterogeneous individuals, organizations and groups, frontstage coherence is something that needs to be worked upon. We show that this essential backstage work consists of 1) training activists to become disciplined frontstage performers; 2) converging the feelings of activists through emotionally intensive disciplinary techniques; and 3) managing differences and conflicts in the free spaces of the movement. This paper thus aims to encourage scholars to look under the hood of public protests and give greater weight to studying the backstage work needed to produce strong and powerful voices.
- Published
- 2016