Doctoral Dissertation Research: Activism and the Cultural Politics of Scale: The Case of the American Indian Movement

社会运动是在许多不同的地理、政治、文化和经济因素之间复杂的相互作用下形成和发展的。虽然对后一种因素进行了广泛的审查，但对社会流动的地理层面的关注要少得多，特别是当流动将注意力集中在不同地理规模的问题和地点时发生的变化。这一博士论文研究项目将集中于空间和地理尺度对美国印第安人运动(AIM)自1968年成立至今的地理活动和影响的影响。将特别关注AIM从一个专注于明尼阿波利斯一系列非常当地和具体问题的小组织转变为一个真正的全国性组织，解决美国印第安人广泛关注的问题，这些组织通过占领南达科他州的Winn Knee而赢得国际声誉，这个地方的政治象征意义远远超过其自然资源。这个项目将探索AIM活动从成立到1973年影响力达到顶峰，然后在20世纪80年代和90年代影响力下降的过程中所发生的地理变化。主要研究将集中在档案材料上，包括来自AIM、联邦调查局以及当地警方和法庭记录的材料。还将注意如何通过印刷和电视媒体介绍该小组的活动。这个项目将有助于当代关于边界和规模在空间、地点和社会运动的文化政治中的作用的理论。它将提供对20世纪60年代末和70年代初美国政治激进主义空间动态的更深层次的理解，从而增加对文化、空间和政治激进主义之间关系的理解。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

Social movements take form and evolve in response to the complex interaction among many different geographic, political, cultural, and economic factors. While the latter factors have been examined extensively, far less attention has been given to the geographic dimensions of social movements, particularly changes that occur when movements focus their attention on issues and locales of different geographic scales. This doctoral dissertation research project will focus on the impact of space and geographic scale on the geographic activities and influence of the American Indian Movement (AIM) from its establishment in 1968 to the present. Special attention will be given to AIM's transformation from a small organization focusing on a very local and specific set of issues in Minneapolis to a truly national organization addressing a broad range of American Indian concerns that gained international renown through its occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, a place far more important for its political symbolism than its natural resources. This project will explore the changing geography of AIM's activities from its founding to the height of its influence in 1973 and then through its decline in influence during the 1980s and 1990s. Primary research will focus on archival materials, including those from AIM, the FBI, and local police and court records. Attention also will be given to how the group's activities were represented through print and television media. This project will contribute to contemporary theories of the role of boundaries and scale in the cultural politics of space, place, and social movements. It will offer a deeper understanding of the spatial dynamics of American political activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, thereby adding to understandings of relationship among culture, space, and political activism. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.