Doctoral Dissertation Research: Claiming Space, Redefining Politics: Road Blockades and the Articulation of Grassroots Power in Urban Bolivia

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Doctoral candidate Carwil R. James (City University of New York Graduate Center), with the guidance of Dr. Marc Edelman, will investigate the spatial logic and effects of urban protest activities, with a particular focus on disruptive mass protests in public space, such as road blockades and occupations of city centers. Have these mass protests, as some observers suggest, introduced and facilitated new ways of "doing politics"? By studying these protests as transformative events, this study will advance social scientific understanding of the social protest and the political use of space.The research will be carried out in two sites in Bolivia, Cochabamba and Sucre, both known for urban protests. The researcher will use a mixture of social science research methodologies to gather data, including: participant observation in social movements; interviews and extended life histories of organizers, participants, and state actors; and analyses of a variety of media and archival sources. Through these methods, the researcher will determine (1) the political and racial geography of the city; (2) the agendas and alliances of active social movements; (3) and connections between their political goals and their practices of protest.This research is important for social science because it will pioneer new methodologies for investigating short, impactful events in ethnographic depth. Through its close attention to multiple aspects of political life, this research also will contribute to understanding the effects of public, space-claiming protest activities on the participants, the political system, and politically and racially stratified urban geography. Supporting this research also supports the education of a social scientist.