Uncivil Engagement and Unruly Politics

This book explores the significance of riots and public disturbances caused by marginalized youth with a migrant background in France and the Netherlands, and how their demands for recognition, justice and equal opportunities are voiced in uncivil, yet politically meaningful ways.

'This book provides an important contribution to literature that considers young people's involvement in civil disorder. It is based upon extensive field research that explores the political meaning of disruptive interventions and, by doing so, provides a voice to the powerless who are marginalised by the operations of conventional political activity.' Peter Joyce, Principal Lecturer in Criminology, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

'How would you recognise a new political subject? By the fact that it already spoke the language of politics? But then it would hardly be new. Femke Kaulingfreks lets us hear the voices of marginalised young men from 'problem' neighbourhoods, and suggests that their riotous intrusions into the public sphere might be understood as creating just such a new form of political subjectivity. Her committed, incisive arguments demand to be heard.' Martin Crowley, Reader in Modern French Thought and Culture, Queens' College, University of Cambridge, UK

'In this brilliant cross-national, empirical-theoretical study, Kaulingfreks meticulously explains how young people resist, defy, and transform punitive state apparatuses. The superb blending of on the ground research with marginalized populations and theorization of larger political and structural forces exposes how the youth of the lumpenproletariat are centrally concerned with finding solutions to the worldwide punitive crackdown on the poor. In the end, those most affected bythe era of global militarized carceral discipline, control, and containment might teach us a lesson or two about dismantling this system and creating a more egalitarian society.' Victor Rios, Professor of Sociology, University of California Santa Barbara, USA

Autorentext
Femke Kaulingfreks completed her PhD in political philosophy and urban anthropology at the University for Humanistic Studies in Utrecht. She is currently a visiting scholar at the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, University of California, Berkeley. Femke is also involved in activism related to housing, youth empowerment and social justice.

Inhalt

Acknowledgements
Making Trouble

1. The Uncivil Revolt Of Young Urban Troublemakers
2. Boys From The Streets Contesting 'Civilized' Politics
3. The Difference Between Institutional And Unruly Politics
4. Writing An Experience Book
5. Politics, The Political And Their Interaction: Outline
6. At The Threshold Between Politics And The Political
   1.1. The Threat Of A Democratic Deficit
   1.2. Earn Your Citizenship!
   1.3. Postfoundational Thinking
   1.4. Of Friends And Enemies
   1.5. The Political In Retreat
   1.6. Unruly Politics
7. A Community Of Experience In Grigny
   2.1. Welcome To Grigny
   2.2. Growing Up In Grigny
   2.3. Young People's Perception Of Politics
   2.4. Living In A World Of 'Us' Versus 'Them'
   2.5. A Void Of Belonging
   2.6. 'Us': The Community Of Experience
   2.7. 'There Is Correct And There Is Correct'
   2.8. Too Included And Too Excluded
8. A Penal Panopticon In Kanaleneiland
   3.1. Welcome In Kanaleneiland
   3.2. Tough Guys On The Streets Of Kanaleneiland Noord
   3.3. Live Like A Gangster
   3.4. 'We Will Be Monitoring You'
   3.5. Frustrations Regarding The General Approach
   3.6. Risk Management As Central Concern Of Governance
   3.7. A Penal Panopticism In The Neighborhood
   3.8. 'Politics Is Theater'
9. The Political Sense Of Disruptive Interventions
   4.1. Youth Culture As A Cause For Moral Panic
   4.2. The Rebel Without A Cause
   4.3. Tony Montana: Hero From The Gutter
   4.4. Demanding Equality In An Act Of Disagreement
   4.5. The Sense Of Senseless Urban Violence
   4.6. Autotelic Violence
   4.7. Riots Indicative Of A Problem Instead Of A Solution
10. Counter-Narratives Of Shared Unruly Politics
    5.1. Welcome To Banlieue 13
    5.2. The Risky Business Of Speaking The Truth
    5.3. From Agonistic Tension To A Sudden Event Of Recognition
    5.4. A Political Ontology Of Shared Coexistence
    5.5. An Egalitarian Revolt
    5.6. A Story Told From The Edge
    Contractions
11. Looking Back
12. Counter-Conduct
13. Contr'actions
14. Hopes For Another World
    References