1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910785048203321

Autore

Polletta Francesca

Titolo

It was like a fever : storytelling in protest and politics / / Francesca Polletta

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago : , : University of Chicago Press, , 2006

ISBN

1-282-67921-X

9786612679216

0-226-67377-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xiv, 242 pages)

Disciplina

808.5/43

Soggetti

Storytelling - Political aspects

Communication - Political aspects

Politics and culture

Communication in folklore

Social movements

Protest movements

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-230) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Why stories matter -- "It was like a fever--" : why people protest -- Strategy as metonymy : why activists choose the strategies they do -- Stories and reasons : why deliberation is only sometimes democratic -- Ways of knowing and stories worth telling : why casting oneself as a victim sometimes hurts the cause -- Remembering Dr. King on the House and Senate floor : why movements have the impacts they do -- Conclusion: folk wisdom and scholarly tales.

Sommario/riassunto

Activists and politicians have long recognized the power of a good story to move people to action. In early 1960 four black college students sat down at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave. Within a month sit-ins spread to thirty cities in seven states. Student participants told stories of impulsive, spontaneous action-this despite all the planning that had gone into the sit-ins. "It was like a fever," they said. Francesca Polletta's It Was Like a Fever sets out to account for the power of storytelling in mobilizing political and social movements. Drawing on cases ranging from



sixteenth-century tax revolts to contemporary debates about the future of the World Trade Center site, Polletta argues that stories are politically effective not when they have clear moral messages, but when they have complex, often ambiguous ones. The openness of stories to interpretation has allowed disadvantaged groups, in particular, to gain a hearing for new needs and to forge surprising political alliances. But popular beliefs in America about storytelling as a genre have also hurt those challenging the status quo. A rich analysis of storytelling in courtrooms, newsrooms, public forums, and the United States Congress, It Was Like a Fever offers provocative new insights into the dynamics of culture and contention.