Atmospheres of Protest

Commentators often remark upon the “festive” or “tense” atmosphere of major protests. This seems to signify the general outlook of the protestors or the relations between them and the police. It signals the potential of the protests to unfold in a peaceful, joyous manner or with violence. While “festive” and “tense” are useful ways of thinking about protest atmospheres, they are often used in a highly reductive manner. The literature on atmosphere from social movement studies also tends to reproduce this reductive idea of atmosphere, whereby it can be understood through unidimensional metrics. This chapter discusses the social movement literature and opens the debate about atmospheres of protest more widely. Ultimately there is a much greater variety of atmospheric conditions in moments of protest. These nestle together, changing and interacting as the conditions shift. Atmospheres are the affective tone of space. They are produced by those gathered in that space, by the spatial dynamics and the affective social conditions. Atmospheres affect those present, changing their capacity to act. Thus it is important that we understand their potential.