Paper short abstract:

From rallies to town hall events, sit-ins to advocacy days, this paper seeks to capture the ways in which the citizens of North Carolina have used the political, social and economic power of wide-scale protest as a key component of collective action for change.

Paper long abstract:

From rallies to town hall events, sit-ins to advocacy days, this paper seeks to capture the ways in which the citizens of North Carolina have used the political, social and economic power of wide-scale protest as a key component of collective action for change. For North Carolinians, whose history is deeply rooted in colonialism, slavery, and Jim Crow-era segregation, citizen engagement through activism has become increasingly more consequential, influencing the movement and pace of several key legislative initiatives, with both positive and adverse outcomes. Particularly for left-leaning politicians and constituents alike, the recent rise of modern conservatism has led many who were not previously active in their community to now join an organization, attend a rally, contact their representative to voice their concerns on upcoming policy votes, and even consider running for office themselves, reigniting a particular kind of vocal collectivity that has not been seen in the United States since the freedom movements of the mid-twentieth century.

Based on research during 2016 and early 2017 in Raleigh, North Carolina, with a group of left-leaning female elected officials, mostly women of color, my ethnographic project seeks to explore the ways in which women work, interact and are understood in a modern, political environment; and in North Carolina, a large part of this political life involves activism, advocacy and political protest. This paper represents a path through which my project explores the places at which life and legislation, the personal and the political, and the symbolic and the system overlap.