The Black Lives Matter Movement: Transnational Activism and the Role of Neo-Liberal Urbanism.

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This project seeks to understand the transnationalism of the Black Lives Matter (BLM)movement. While a small body of work has addressed BLM in the US, the issue oftransnationalism has been neglected in the current academic literature. This provides aunique opportunity for me to be amongst the first to critically investigate BLM as atransnational movement. The BLM movement has established itself most clearly in urbancontexts, and my project explores the relationship between neo-liberal urbanism andBLM activism. Key questions are: why did a movement originating in 'small town' Americaresonate with activists transnationally? What role has neo-liberal urbanism played increating a transnational BLM? What are the advantages and challenges of a transnationalBLM movement? What difference does place make to how the BLM movement isunderstood and enacted in different urban contexts? How effective is transnational BLMactivism in combatting racism and inequalities?I will use multi-sited ethnography to explore BLM activism in London, Sydney andVancouver. The multi-site approach also enables insight into the uneven geographies ofactivism across time and space where different issues may come to the fore. These citieswill provide political insight into why and how BLM has resonated with activists, and thetypes of networks that have made this possible. My research will highlight the criticalimportance of the relationship between race and urbanism.