On Henri Lefebvre's "revolutionary citizenship": Urban protest and the challenges of the post-political

Event details

Social and Political Sciences Seminar Series

In later work the French sociologist Henri Lefebvre began the task of reconfiguring his earlier and better known notion of 'the right to the city' as a  transnational, communications driven mode of revolutionary (urban) citizenship. This talk works through the possibilities of revolutionary citizenship in the city, drawing upon two empirical studies of contemporary urban protest in 'global' London. In each case it is discussed how emergent forms of citizenship must battle with how the democratic spaces of the city are, under neoliberal conditions, becoming increasingly post-political and indifferent or hostile to collective forms of political representation.

Other lectures in this series include:

• Governing sexual violence at the Foreign Office: Security, pedagogy and export feminism
• Security, surveillance and space: Contested topologies of urban security
• Going hungry: Researching food-bank usage in the UK