Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the rise of a discrete protest culture in Iceland after the country's 2008 economic collapse. In response to a perceived lack of government credibility over the last decade, it argues that new political discourses & social relations are being built through protest participation.

Paper long abstract:

Recent incidences of fiscal and border crisis over the last decade has profoundly affected a secure sense of identity, community and polity across areas of the European continent. This context provides an opportunity to shift attention northward to not only explore the ways that crisis has indelibly marked the European social imaginary but to also highlight the ways that communities have uniquely responded to periods of adversity. Bringing into focus the 2008 Icelandic banking collapse and its aftermath, this paper explores the emergence of a discrete culture of protest in Iceland that has been mobilised in response to a perceived lack of government credibility and leadership over the last decade. Motivated by ongoing revelations of government corruption, growing political contention between sections of the public and the government continue to be rehearsed today through small and large protests. Through ethnography with members of the public and civil society actors, this paper shows how protests have become a significant site to highlight and challenge dominant political narratives all the while producing new sets of discourse and social relations through the promotion of political and economic transparency.