Bastards of Utopia

Razsa's affirmative ethnography is by no means naive or uncritical, but rather exhibits a kind of intellectual generosity and political honesty that makes it a timely, persuasive and welcome addition to anthropology of anarchism. It is also great proof that good things still emerge out of long-term ethnographic engagement with a particular historical-geographic space. * PoLAR * Bastards of Utopia makes an excellent contribution to the study of political activism and the social movements that have left an imprint on local and international politics around the worldfrom the antiglobalization demonstrations of the turn of the century to the so-called Color Revolutions, Arab Spring, and Occupy Wall Street. * American Anthropologist * The book's cast of characters proves outspoken and sometimes violent, willing to don gas masks and wield Molotov cocktails during standoffs with authorities. In this manner, Razsa brings a personal note to his academic treatment of politics, protest, transnational movements, and globalization . . . This book will prove a boon to anyone interested in understanding the diverse world of contemporary protest, as variously made manifest in the Occupy Movement, the Arab Spring, and Ferguson. * Publishers Weekly *

Maple Razsa is Associate Professor of Global Studies at Colby College. A documentary filmmaker, his work includes Bastards of Utopia (2010) and Occupation: A Film about the Harvard Living Wage Sit-In (2002; both with Pacho Velez).

Introduction 1. Grassroots Globalization in National Soil 2. Uncivil Society: NGOs, the Invasion of Iraq, and the Limits of Polite Protest 3. "Feeling the State on Your Own Skin": Direct Confrontation and the Production of Militant Subjects 4. "Struggling For What Is Not Yet": The Right to the City in Zagreb 5. The Occupy Movement: Direct Democracy and a Politics of Becoming Conclusion: From Critique to Affirmation