The role of emotions in protest. A proposal of analysis

The aim of the paper will be to describe how the authors have studied the role of emotions in local protests. Focusing on the analysis of the conflict from below, we have paid special attention to the emotions felt by the protestors and their consequences in the dynamics of the protest. We begin by studying the role of emotions in motivation, and how negative emotions radicalize the protest. We then consider how affective loyalties contribute to the collective identification, with particular attention to the place attachment, and finally how moral emotions affect the cognitive processes, like framing, cognitive liberation, or empowerment. This paper will attempt to demonstrate that emotions, playing an important role in these processes, not only influence motivation and recruitment, but affect the outcomes of protest.

The second section of the paper will describe the methodology that we have developed in our PhD research, underlining the importance of depth interviews and narrative analysis of the biographical material and giving special attention to the different labels that we have assigned to different emotions, feelings and moods that play an important role in the protest.

Finally we will present some results, based on analysis of two specific case studies: a resistance against a dam of a village in Los Altos de Jalisco, Mexico, in 2004, and the insurgency of Oaxaca, Mexico, in 2006.