Kom med oss! - Med bara gatorna kvar. En studie av den kvinnliga protestkulturen i Polen

Abstract

This thesis investigates why and how Polish women use demonstrations as a way of participating in political and social life in Poland. The aim is to explore the role of public spaces in construction of and/ or sustaining democracy. In order to achieve these goals, the following questions were asked: What characterizes Czarny Protest’s and Manifa’s protest culture? In what ways and by what means do protesting women enter the city's public spaces? How are public spaces activated by collective and affirmative assemblies? The research material used in this study is based on ethnographic methods and consists of interview transcriptions and field notes. The participants in this study are all Polish women who were active in Czarny Protest and/ or Manifa between 2016 and 2018. A total of ten interviews were conducted regarding reasons for protesting, women’s experiences and understanding of demonstrations, potential implications of protest and women’s relation to public spaces during the demonstrations. To contextualize the women’s stories two participant observations were made during Manifa i Warszawa and Gdańsk in March 2018. Theories used to understand and explain the collected data are grounded in concepts of public space, public sphere, holding space, empty place, emotions of protest and embodiment in and of space. Focusing on three thematic areas - becoming a political subject, claiming space though collective action and extending the purposes of public space. The study shows that the streets and squares are the only places, besides the internet and private rooms where women can voice their concerns and interests. Through collective assemblies the participating women hold space for their own demands, feelings, different experiences of womanhood, for other people’s needs and different ways of being in the public. The affirmative aspects of protests open women’s concerns for a public debate and translate them to political issues. The public spaces become an arena for multiple identities, differences but also collectiveness and empathy.