| Description |
This dissertation advances a networked approach to social movements via the study of contemporary environmental protests in China. Specifically, I examine anti- paraxylene protests that occurred in 2007 in Xiamen, in 2011 in Dalian, and in 2014 in Maoming via news reports, social media feeds, and conversations with witnesses and participants in the protests. In so doing, I contribute two important concepts for social movement scholars. The first is the treatment of protests as forces majeure that disrupt networks and force the renegotiation of relationships. This turn helps scholars to trace the movement of the social via changes in human consciousness as well as changes in relationships. The second concept I advance is wild public networks, which take seriously new media as making possible different forms of protest. This concept is especially important in studies of social movement in China where censorship and surveillance are widespread. By advancing these two concepts, I offer scholars new tools to trace the movement of the social beyond instrumental successes in terms of relationships and renegotiations. |
