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Invisible Butterflies: Critical Habitus, Black Bloc, and Middle Classes in Contemporary Germany

Publication at Faculty of Humanities |
2014

Abstract

This talk explores the everyday lived experience of militant global justice, anti-austerity, and anti-fascist activists in Germany. Based on examples from ethnographic research during political riots and solidarity actions, as well as in jails, homes, universities and on the Internet, the presentation examines how young militants in Germany cultivate a "bifurcating self," constituted through switching between the roles of "middle class student" and "political trouble maker." Such "invisible butterflies" inhabit a liminal phase of life, simultaneously practicing militant protest while pursuing a middle class trajectory.