Scripted Clashes

ISBN-13: 9783639149968 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 196 str.

Teresita Del Rosario

Opis

The study of collective uprisings in the past has suffered from an intellectual tradition that tends to equate social protest with crowd behavior --- a form of sociopathology endemic in societies experiencing social breakdown. This study challenges that perspective. In looking at the three people power uprisings in the Philippines which occurred over a time period of fifteen years, this book employs a Goffmanian framework to explain the quasi-religious and festive character of these uprisings. They are "dramaturgical productions", each one governed by an underlying script. Two uprisings embody the larger moral vision among middle-class protestors who adhere to a distinct social project called modernity. The third uprising elaborates on the notion of the "hidden transcript" which is formed in the subterreneal regions of discourse among the poor, and are inspired by the Pasyon, the movies, and the telenovelas. The study ends with a meditation on the possibilities of utilizing dramaturgy as a social critique and as a project for the deepening of humanistic concerns.