Death, gold and the square: rhythm-analysis in a time of protests

Soreanu, Raluca (2014) Death, gold and the square: rhythm-analysis in a time of protests. Studia Sociologia 59 (2), pp. 117-136. ISSN 1224-8703.

Abstract

The article discusses the creativities of protest as phenomena of rhythm. Theoretically, I propose translating Cornelius Castoriadis’ regional ontology of selves into a problematique of rhythms. I argue for an artisanal way of using the Castoriadian conceptual pair autonomy/heteronomy, focusing on moments rather than on entire societies. Furthermore, I introduce a notion of concentricity of rhythms that allows us to capture the polyrhythmic complexity of protest situations, which become psychic situations, involving presences, as well as absences, half-absences or spectres. Thus, I aim to contribute to a psychosocial understanding of the creativities of collective action. Finally, I analyse the concentricities of rhythm in a site of protest in Romania. The organisation Alburnus Maior protests against the project of a gold mine based on cyanide technologies. It performs a complicated political choreography, centred on the symbolic pair gold-death. Listening to the rhythms of the square enables a reflection on autonomy, recognition and post-oedipal politics.

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