Being the change: Performative acts in social movements

Among the strategies used by social movement activists are protests, demonstrations, and other collective actions that symbolically call attention to injustices, create sufficient interference with the status quo that change becomes preferable to ongoing disruption, or otherwise demonstrate the unity and commitment of large numbers to a cause. These collective actions historically include vigils, marches, boycotts, and occupations, among others.

            However, some social movement performances, such as Gandhi’s march to the sea to make salt, sit-ins at “whites only” lunch counters by African Americans in the 1960s, and the more recent efforts by Saudi Arabian women to drive cars, are more than acts of resistance; they are embodiments of the changes being sought. Each of these performances not only called attention to injustice, but courageously demonstrated that the power necessary for change was embodied in those seeking such change. Indeed, the use of force to suppress such performances and intimidate their repetition suggests an awareness, however unconscious, on the part of the dominant culture or authorities, of the power of performance to create change. Thus, Gandhi’s admonition to be the change we seek in the world can be interpreted not only as a call for inspirational behavior, but as an understanding of this power.

            This paper uses performance theory to analyze and interpret social movement activities. It will distinguish between collective performances that are primarily symbolic or disruptive and those that create, however momentarily, the change being sought. In doing so, it will apply to collective social movement performances the work of feminist philosopher Judith Butler that held that performative acts do not simply express gender, but constitute it through their repetition. Furthermore, this paper will suggest that individuals outside of organized social movements sometimes perform acts that mimic collective performances, adding to the ability of performance to constitute change.