Vulnerability and affective solidarity : Feminist assemblies in Appalachia under and after the Trump presidency
Luzynski, Cheyenne ; Caretta, Martina Angela LU
and Tanner, Emily
(2023)
In Gender, Work and Organization
- Abstract
Following the 2016 elections, several feminist groups emerged in the U.S. in response to the election of President Trump. This manuscript focuses on a feminist assembly located in marginal and conservative Appalachia. Grounded in reflexivity, we employ affective solidarity to better understand feminist organizing in a post-Trump rural Appalachian town. Based on a collaborative ethnography, including the National Organization of Women's local chapter members, conducted between 2016 and 2022, we analyze how political engagement has been initiated by an affective response—vulnerability, misery, rage, passion, and hope. By organizing open houses, marches, and voter guides, this group's outreach strives to inform and engage community members... (More)
Following the 2016 elections, several feminist groups emerged in the U.S. in response to the election of President Trump. This manuscript focuses on a feminist assembly located in marginal and conservative Appalachia. Grounded in reflexivity, we employ affective solidarity to better understand feminist organizing in a post-Trump rural Appalachian town. Based on a collaborative ethnography, including the National Organization of Women's local chapter members, conducted between 2016 and 2022, we analyze how political engagement has been initiated by an affective response—vulnerability, misery, rage, passion, and hope. By organizing open houses, marches, and voter guides, this group's outreach strives to inform and engage community members in dialogs around women's rights to improve gender equality in West Virginia, a state historically characterized by a conservative, heteronormative, patriarchal, and anti-abortion mentality. We show how the dissonance between Trump's glorification of these ideologies and our affective responses served as a mechanism for feminist solidarity. This paper uses Butlerian principles to explore how vulnerability and resistance shape a feminist social movement held together by affective solidarity. We argue that responses to threats prompted by the Trump Presidency have been critical to the resurgence of our feminist agency and political engagement where conservative and masculine ideologies impose control over vulnerable populations. This paper advances the knowledge of vulnerability and agency and contributes to the literature on assemblies for political resistance.
(Less)
- author
- Luzynski, Cheyenne
; Caretta, Martina Angela
LU
and Tanner, Emily
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- in press
- subject
- keywords
- affective solidarity, Appalachia, assemblies, feminist organizing, social movements
- in
- Gender, Work and Organization
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85173495490
- ISSN
- 0968-6673
- DOI
- 10.1111/gwao.13077
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- eb4f5cce-b16b-4156-bdd5-8f6b86c1c28a
- date added to LUP
- 2023-12-20 10:52:28
- date last changed
- 2023-12-20 10:54:13
@article{eb4f5cce-b16b-4156-bdd5-8f6b86c1c28a,
abstract = {{<p>Following the 2016 elections, several feminist groups emerged in the U.S. in response to the election of President Trump. This manuscript focuses on a feminist assembly located in marginal and conservative Appalachia. Grounded in reflexivity, we employ affective solidarity to better understand feminist organizing in a post-Trump rural Appalachian town. Based on a collaborative ethnography, including the National Organization of Women's local chapter members, conducted between 2016 and 2022, we analyze how political engagement has been initiated by an affective response—vulnerability, misery, rage, passion, and hope. By organizing open houses, marches, and voter guides, this group's outreach strives to inform and engage community members in dialogs around women's rights to improve gender equality in West Virginia, a state historically characterized by a conservative, heteronormative, patriarchal, and anti-abortion mentality. We show how the dissonance between Trump's glorification of these ideologies and our affective responses served as a mechanism for feminist solidarity. This paper uses Butlerian principles to explore how vulnerability and resistance shape a feminist social movement held together by affective solidarity. We argue that responses to threats prompted by the Trump Presidency have been critical to the resurgence of our feminist agency and political engagement where conservative and masculine ideologies impose control over vulnerable populations. This paper advances the knowledge of vulnerability and agency and contributes to the literature on assemblies for political resistance.</p>}},
author = {{Luzynski, Cheyenne and Caretta, Martina Angela and Tanner, Emily}},
issn = {{0968-6673}},
keywords = {{affective solidarity; Appalachia; assemblies; feminist organizing; social movements}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Gender, Work and Organization}},
title = {{Vulnerability and affective solidarity : Feminist assemblies in Appalachia under and after the Trump presidency}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gwao.13077}},
doi = {{10.1111/gwao.13077}},
year = {{2023}},
}