Spatial practices and narratives
The GenkiDama for education by Chilean students
The Chilean students’ rebellion emerged in 2011 within the wave of global protests. Even though it is an organized movement, with roots in a specific historical context, it shares with the global movement the use of new media technologies, the appropriation of public spaces, and the concern for democracy and equality. The movement deploys flexible forms of organization and mobilization such as flash mobs, in the case analyzed in this article, the GenkiDama for Education. The students create a narrative based on the famous Manga series Dragon Ball Z to reframe the conflict between students and government. As Manga fans, they open up participation to other less politically defined identities. The flash mob moment works as a communicative event in which the narrative is put into place and strengthens a sense of community in the streets of Santiago de Chile. To analyze the connections between the fictional narrative of Manga and the use of the public space, we draw on Michel de Certeau’s theory on spatial practices and the function of stories and place/space. Spatial practices during the flash mob challenge the social and spatial order in order to represent a symbolic victory of the students over the political system.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Public spaces: Material and virtual
- 2.1Political flash mobs
- 2.2The space of enunciation and stories
- 3.The GenkiDama for education
- 3.1Narrative as foundational space
- 3.2The uses of public space as performance
- 4.Conclusions
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
-
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Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Donoso, Sofia, Rodolfo Disi Pavlic & Belén Cumsille R.
2023.
Social policy expansion from below? The case of Chile’s student movement and free tuition higher education.
World Development 167
► pp. 106213 ff.
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