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

社会运动的形成和发展是对许多不同地理、政治、文化和经济因素之间复杂相互作用的回应。 虽然后一种因素已得到广泛研究，但对社会运动的地理方面的关注要少得多，特别是当运动将注意力集中在不同地理范围的问题和地点时所发生的变化。 本博士论文的研究项目将侧重于空间和地理尺度对美国印第安人运动（AIM）从1968年成立至今的地理活动和影响的影响。 将特别注意AIM从一个专注于明尼阿波利斯一系列非常地方性和具体问题的小组织转变为一个真正的全国性组织，解决通过占领南达科他州伤膝而获得国际声誉的广泛的美洲印第安人问题，这个地方的政治象征意义远比其自然资源重要。 该项目将探讨AIM活动的地理变化，从其成立到1973年影响力的高峰，然后通过其影响力在20世纪80年代和90年代的下降。 主要研究将集中在档案材料，包括来自AIM，联邦调查局，当地警察和法院记录。 还将注意如何通过印刷和电视媒体宣传该小组的活动。 这个项目将有助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当代理论。 它将提供在20世纪60年代末和70年代初的美国政治活动的空间动态的更深入的理解，从而增加了文化，空间和政治活动之间的关系的理解。 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的研究生涯。

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.