The State of Unrest: Crowds, Protests, Atmospheres (Crowds, Affects, Cities Seminar Series)
Wednesday 2nd December, 2020
13:00-14:00, Zoom (registration required)
Dr Illan Wall (Law, Warwick University) – The State of Unrest: Crowds, Protests, Atmospheres
In late 1935, Georges Bataille could feel it. He addressed the Contre-Attaque group as Paris was consumed by protest and counter-protest: ‘What drives the crowds into the street is the emotion directly aroused by striking events in the atmosphere of a storm, it is the contagious emotion that, from house to house, from suburb to suburb, suddenly turns a hesitating man into a frenzied being’. The city had become the bearer of new affects. The atmosphere of the storm gathered over it. The clouds were dark with threat, anxiety and excitement. As the protests, riots, marches and strikes continued, this crisis of feeling spread. It thickened. It began to stick to bodies, condensing in every little interaction. The affects of the disorder spread through the city, through the country. France was gripped by a state of unrest. In this paper I will develop the core analysis of my forthcoming book Law and Disorder (Routledge, 2021), I will explore the ways in which atmospheres of crowded protest can seep out from protests or occupations. How the streets around a crowded event can fill with different feelings, and how those feelings can very quickly spread out around a city, a country, a region and at times even around the world. It is about how these affects can be felt among the populace as the opening of new (exciting and/or terrifying) political, social and legal possibilities. In short, I will suggest that in the state of unrest what is socially and politically possible can be radically redefined.
Illan rua Wall is a Reader at the Warwick Law School. He works on questions of unrest, protest and affective atmospheres. His next book is due out soon, entitled Law and Disorder (Routledge 2021). Illan is one of the founding editors of the blog criticallegalthinking.com and the open access publisher Counterpress. He sits on the editorial board of Law and Critique, and is the Co-Director of Warwick’s Centre for Critical Legal Studies.