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Article published In:
The micro-politics of sequential organization: Contributions from conversation analysis and ethnomethodology
Edited by Lorenza Mondada and Sara Keel
[Journal of Language and Politics 16:1] 2017
► pp. 59–82

The interactive achievement and transformation of a “revolutionary category” – the “sans-papiers” – during public press conferences

 | University of Basel
Launching a protest movement implies the establishment of a self-categorisation that sets forth the terms of its membership and its political aims from within. Claiming all members’ right to collective legalisation, immigrants without residence/working permits have constituted the “sans-papiers”/“undocumented” category to counter other-categorisations, such as “illegal immigrants” and “clandestine”, which associate the designated population with illegality, and to apply pressure for political change. This paper offers detailed analyses of the ways members of a protest movement (2001, Fribourg, Switzerland) established and used the “sans-papiers” category as official speakers during press conferences. It shows on the one hand speakers’ ingenious in situ deployment of resources offered by the press conference format for doing protest. On the other hand, it reveals speakers’ transforming categorial work that indexes inherent tensions that the setting-up of a “revolutionary category” might imply for its members when confronted to politico-institutional challenges engendered by their protest.
Keywords: immigrants’ protest movement, press conferences, conversation analysis, membership categorisation analysis, revolutionary category, sans-papiers, undocumented
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Constituting “revolutionary categories” as a means for rebelling collectively
    • 1.2The press conference format as a powerful resource for control
  • 2.The “sans-papiers” category as a “revolutionary category” in its textual form
  • 3.The “sans-papiers” category as a “revolutionary category” in situated interaction
    • 3.1Facing political pressure: its impact on the “sans-papiers” category
      • 3.1.1Demonstration and political actions preceding the press conference: enforcing the revolutionary character of self-categorisation
      • 3.1.2The transformation of the revolutionary category into sub-categories
    • 3.2The host country’s national tradition and enforcing a revolutionary category
      • 3.2.1Festive and political actions before/after the press conference
      • 3.2.2The return of the “sans-papiers” category as a non-divided, “revolutionary category”
  • 4.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 25 April 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.16.1.04kee
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