Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Of Minutemen and Rebel Clown Armies: Reconsidering Transformative Citizenship

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 29; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10462930903017190

1479-5760

John Fletcher,

Management and Organizational Studies

What does it mean for progressive performance activists to use citizenship as an animating rhetoric? To address this question, I examine the activist tactics of two ideologically opposed groups: the civilian border-watch organizations known as Minutemen and a neo-anarchist collective called the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army. While the Minutemen pursue a particular paleoconservative ideal of citizen-as-activist, the Clowns eschew citizenship rhetoric altogether. Through an analysis of the two groups, I conclude that citizenship as a concept operates in tension with radical democratic ideals of equality and liberty for all. Nevertheless, its hegemonic effectiveness in progressive endeavors makes it indispensible.