Hypothesis: Student occupations are not self-contained places but rather political expressions of broader translocal networks, that form around resistant discourses

* Collapse of production-consumption model in the circulation of information (Bruns, 2008)

* Reflexive intellectual culture through New Media (Giddens in Ahmed&Shore 1995)

* Same fabric for social phenomena, but different “texture”

New elements:

-Horizontal communication across borders-Heavy new media usage (internet, mobile phones)-Diffusion of values, symbols, methods in the mediascape

Field of Study: SOAS occupation

-Between November and December 2010

- In the center of London

- Next to the Senate house of ULU

- Opposite to main building

Landmarks Manifesting structure and antistructure (Turner,1995)

Derangement in the daily liturgy (Holmes, 1973)

Rearrangement of political dynamics (Lefebvre, 1991)

But field is multisited, really…

WHO

-A core of around thirty students (day-to-day activities, security of the space) -A larger - undefined number of students took part in associated activities. -All of the students of SOAS knew about the occupation through two mailing lists

“People with specific affiliations to political groups come in order to push their agenda and hijack the occupation. Thanks to technology we can keep now strong contacts with other groups through the internet and practice direct

democracy”. 

Informant Report, Field Notes, 2010

FUNCTION

Quotidian rituals: -Assembly of the students, almost every day at about one o’clock in the afternoon-Every morning cleaning the spaceManifestations-Concerts-Talks and discussions

Field of Study: SOAS occupation

MEANS

Mobile phones

Email Facebook page Blog of the occupation

Brunei gallery - spacePostersFlyers,Events

Field of Study: SOAS occupation

Particular character of every occupation defined by culture: UCL-“massive”, LSE-“strict”, Birkbeck-“dark”Particular structure: space affecting function (more or less democratic, character), blogs, mailing lists, Common pattern and techniques: occupied spaces, flyers, demonstrations, facebook pages, mailing lists and fora

Theory Participant observation

* “The locus of study is not [necessarily] the object of study’ (Geertz, 1973, p.22).

•Uncover Conceptual structures and understand the concepts that defined the acts of the student community within it and out from it.

•The interaction between new information technology and current processes of social change does have a substantial impact on space” (Castells, 2000)

Brunei gallery as well as the internet, mailing lists, mobile phones - the broader social network of London Students

Openness, fluidity, no authority, spontaneity, direct democracy, transparency

Indeed the students movement in London used new media extensively

Occupations are nodes situated within the present geographical and cultural system (Apandurai, 1995), permeable localities (Moores, 2004). Translocal particular political expressions within context. Connected to

broader networks of individuals and groups within the wider political discourse (in the national, European and global context) largely facilitated through new media

New Media are ubiquitus, spontaneous, fast, fluid and therefore space was hybrid. SOAS occupation largely presented such charactristics in its function

Occupants used systematically Media and Communication devices in a collective manner, as part of their standard obligation towards the community (field notes 2010)

Technomystical moment while a court injunction was served on the occupation. Individual articulation and transmission but in a collective manner.

Horizontal communication collectivity produced counter narratives of the events.

Diffusion of methods, symbols and signs

The students did not only answer to the government, but also showed to the young Greeks, Italians, French that they too are angry with what is going on

Informant noted that the New Media were empowering the movement

Technology employed for the development of anti-kettling tactics (organic in this case)

Students maintained a political identity through the construction of counter narratives in the

New Media. Doubting the Press was a crucial part of the process

Politics of melancholy (Lash, 2002) based on the division of actual/virtual collapse. Mobile phones

crucial in this process

Utilization instead of fetishization of New Media

“We discovered that we can organize and change things” (Informant report, field notes, 2010)

geoscape

mediascape

Students occupations, London 2010 were broad social networks

Nodes on a map (London), communicating and coordinating action

Links of communication map consisted of online fora, micropublishing sites,

Hybrid

Accelerated reactions, allows reaction, changes power relations

Globalization changes power relations – Communication technologies are its material basis

National Level – Crisis of Institutions

Horizontal (local, translocal) communication and information

Compression of time/place

Traditional consent tactics fail

The combination of social institutions and a mix of media, creates reactionary mechanisms

More research needs to be done on the relation of organized institutions (political, parties, unions) and flows of information, the birth of anti-hierarchical movements.

Thank you

Matthaios TsimitakisJournalistMA student Anthropology of MediaSOAS

Graphics: Eleni Spyridaki Azzura Muzzinigro