No longer the province of party hacks and budding politicians, social movements are today joyful and erotic eruptions. While Americans may be aware of explosive convulsions abroad, domestic histories of self-directed opposition are often hidden suppressed. Benjamin Shepard gives flesh to the zeitgeist of joyful opposition in the US, recounting playful episodes of autonomously organized resistance to the forces of seriousness and domination.
George N. Katsiaficas, activist and
author of The subversion of politics:
European autonomous social movements
and the decolonization of everyday life
A historically and theoretically sophisticated study of play and humor in the service of political goals... Believing that politics is too funny to be left to the politicians and comedy too serious to be left to the professional funny-men, Benjamin Shepard takes us on a hilarious tour of the streets and parks of America to show us what a little imagination and a outsized sense of fun, mixed in with just enough courage, can do in the struggle for a more human world. Highly recommended!
Bertell Ollman, Dept. of Politics,
NYU, and author of Dance of the
Dialectic
At a time of social and ecological crisis, the idea of playful protest might seem somewhat irrelevant, yet Shepards brilliant overview of the ludic spirit of social movements shows us clearly that play is exactly what is needed at times like this. From Dada to Reclaim the Streets, via Act Up and community gardening, every page of this book brings another story of acts of play that enable social movement actors to imagine other worlds through liberating their minds and bodies. Best of all, Play, Creativity, and Social Movements: If I Cant Dance, Its Not My Revolution shows us that when academics leave the safety of their desks for the playground of the streets, the result is not only intelligent, powerful new forms of action, but critique that is alive and kicking.
John Jordan, art activist and co-author
of Paths Through Utopias and We Are
Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of
Global Anticapitalism
This is the book Id have found as a 23 year old and flipped out tolike George McKays Party and Protest in 90s Britain, discovering the MC5 or my first RTS protest. His project, exploring the ludic within movements for social change, comes to our contemporary moment. It is a book of theory, criticism, tactics, documentation and most significantly an insiders perspective on some of the most interesting plays for social change engaged with in the United States over the last 40 years. I love this book. Herein contains the voices of those who have most inspired and challenged me to scheme then act wildly for a more just world.
Robby Herbst, Llano Del Rio
Collective, Co-founder Journal of
Aesthetics & Protest
Benjamin Shepard theorizes on play and protest--and he lives it. His real experience with the playful struggle in the streets, whether wearing a red nose or a feather boa, comes through in every chapter of this compelling and provocative book.
L. M. Bogad, UC Davis, Electoral
Guerilla Theatre: Radical Ridicule and
Social Movements
Play, Creativity, and
Social Movements
Routledge Advances in Sociology
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
19. Social Isolation in Modern Society
Roelof Hortulanus, Anja Machielse and Ludwien Meeuwesen
20. Weber and the Persistence of Religion
Social Theory, Capitalism and the Sublime
Joseph W. H. Lough
21. Globalization, Uncertainty and Late Careers in Society
Edited by Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Sandra Buchholz and Dirk Hofcker
22. Bourdieus Politics
Problems and Possibilities
Jeremy F. Lane
23. Media Bias in Reporting Social Research?
The Case of Reviewing Ethnic Inequalities in Education
Martyn Hammersley
24. A General Theory of Emotions and Social Life
Warren D. TenHouten
25. Sociology, Religion and Grace
Arpad Szakolczai
26. Youth Cultures
Scenes, Subcultures and Tribes
Edited by Paul Hodkinson and Wolfgang Deicke
27. The Obituary as Collective Memory
Bridget Fowler
28. Tocquevilles Virus
Utopia and Dystopia in Western Social and Political Thought
Mark Featherstone
29. Jewish Eating and Identity Through the Ages
David Kraemer
30. The Institutionalization of Social Welfare
A Study of Medicalizing Management
Mikael Holmqvist
31. The Role of Religion in Modern Societies
Edited by Detlef Pollack and Daniel V. A. Olson
32. Sex Research and Sex Therapy
A Sociology Analysis of Masters and Johnson
Ross Morrow
33. A Crisis of Waste?
Understanding the Rubbish Society
Martin OBrien
34. Globalization and Transformations of Local Socioeconomic Practices
Edited by Ulrike Schuerkens
35. The Culture of Welfare Markets
The International Recasting of Pension and Care Systems
Ingo Bode
36. Cohabitation, Family and Society
Tiziana Nazio
37. Latin America and Contemporary Modernity
A Sociological Interpretation
Jos Maurcio Domingues
38. Exploring the Networked Worlds of Popular Music
Milieu Cultures
Peter Webb
39. The Cultural Significance of the Child Star
Jane OConnor
40. European Integration as an Elite Process
The Failure of a Dream?
Max Haller
41. Queer Political Performance and Protest
Benjamin Shepard
42. Cosmopolitan Spaces
Europe, Globalization, Theory
Chris Rumford
43. Contexts of Social Capital
Social Networks in Communities, Markets and Organizations
Edited by Ray-May Hsung, Nan Lin, and Ronald Breiger
44. Feminism, Domesticity and Popular Culture
Edited by Stacy Gillis and Joanne Hollows
45. Changing Relationships
Edited by Malcolm Brynin and John Ermisch
46. Formal and Informal Work
The Hidden Work Regime in Europe
Edited by Birgit Pfau-Effinger, Lluis Flaquer, and Per H. Jensen
47. Interpreting Human Rights
Social Science Perspectives
Edited by Rhiannon Morgan and Bryan S. Turner
48. Club Cultures
Boundaries, Identities and Otherness
Silvia Rief
49. Eastern European Immigrant Families
Mihaela Robila
50. People and Societies
Rom Harr and Designing the Social Sciences
Luk van Langenhove
51. Legislating Creativity
The Intersections of Art and Politics
Dustin Kidd
52. Youth in Contemporary Europe
Edited by Jeremy Leaman and Martha Wrsching
53. Globalization and Transformations of Social Inequality
Edited by Ulrike Schuerkens
54. Twentieth Century Music and the Question of Modernity
Eduardo De La Fuente
55. The American Surfer
Radical Culture and Capitalism
Kristin Lawler
56. Religion and Social Problems
Edited by Titus Hjelm
57. Play, Creativity, and Social Movements
If I Cant Dance, Its Not My Revolution
Benjamin Shepard
