Occupy

Anthropology?

(A sideways look at the

Occupy Movement )

BA

CK

GR

OU

ND

Arab Spring Spanish Indignados Occupy Wall Street Occupy the London

Stock Exchange 1000 + occupations Different, but similar Assemblies, meetings,

direct action, occupation

of public space

Nom

ad t

hought

15 October Reimagining of public

space Shifting the climate of

debate Mimetic realization of

an ‘alternative system’

Entanglement with law

Contested land

Benja

min

’s in

sight ’Every dialectically

presented historical circumstance polarizes itself and becomes a force field in which the confrontation between its fore-history and after-history is played out.’

(Arcades Project)

Benja

min

’s in

sight

St Paul’s as tent-maker What would Jesus do?

Exposing the corrupt

City of London Symbolic miniature for

the ‘bigger fight’ against global financial systems and

neoliberal capitalism

Eth

nogra

phic

co

nse

quence

Remained for 4 months

Extended existence in

people’s social imagination A ‘demonstration’ of an

alternative Public assemblies Free education

(Tent City University) Open, free kitchen Making a community

Problems; drugs, alcohol

Deco

nst

ruct

ing

capit

alis

m?

Putting “the current system” in quotation marks

(cf. Butler 1992) Rewriting history, exposing

the roots of global inequality (e.g. Graeber) Mimetically becoming an

‘other’ (Benjamin, Taussig)

Minority discourse to

subvert (cf. Deleuze & Guatarri)

Sideways move (Strathern)

Fem

inis

t in

terv

enti

on

No shared identity, but

alliances by shared interest Assemblage and

autonomy Compassion, inclusivity,

contra-neoliberal capitalism Empowerment, active

subjects Facilitation, not indoctrination

Benjaminian futures

‘History, to be written by a world stupefied at our era’s inaction on climate change, poverty and global inequality, will record that Occupy the London Stock Exchange saw the coming storm an helped sound the warning bell. History will also note that the established men and women of our age responded with dismissive scorn and references to their deluded idea of "common sense".’

(Occupied Times editorial, 1 March 2012)