Ontologies and knowledges of autonomous resistances in Barcelona: An ethnographic analysis of Can Batlló

Abstract

This research is born from a conscious reflection on the roles and judgements that traditional scientific analyses imprint in its objects of study, especially in the field of social movement theory. It aims to understand whether and, to which extent, autonomous resistances knowledges constructed on the ground challenge the academic interpretations of those movements. For this reason, the first part of this dissertation focuses on unravelling how traditional ontologies have been built and underpin majoritarian scientific analyses. Thus, I review most current debates in the field. Traditional social movement research tends to focus on dualist discussions related to new and old social movements, European and American approaches, behavioural or cost-benefits views, structural and agency approaches, identity-based interpretations, etc. In opposition to that, I argue for an ontology breaking with dualist views, placing Deleuze’s concept of difference at the centre of my argument and feminist ontologies of the body as the medium affecting the political experience. I propose an autoethnographic method focused on presenting a cartography of urban resistance movements composed by difference and rhizomatic relationships in opposition to the homogenisation of ideas and demands of academic research for pilling up patterns, variables or categories. Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the BwO is presented here as a theoretical tool that helps to introduce the case study in relation with its contexts, relationships, affects and networks. The second part of this research narrates and analyses how the proposed theory is unwrapped in the field. In doing so, I analyse my participation with and from within one of those collectives, Can Batlló and, more specifically, a project named La Fondona. Can Batlló is an autonomous and self-organised social centre in the neighbourhood of La Bordeta in Barcelona with which I worked during six months between 2013 and 2014. Throughout this period, I participated actively not only in Can Batlló but also in the actions and events that took place in the neighbourhood of Sants-Montjuïc and Barcelona. Hence, I present an analysis of the internal processes, relations and knowledge-practices as well as the relationships that this collective maintains with the community, its sociopolitical space and historical context. I argue those relations are constructed through rhizomatic principles as well as drawing from feminist approaches which put life and the body at the centre of their arguments. These outcomes will be finally reflected in chapter IX of this dissertation under the lenses of the research question posed in this thesis. That is whether current urban resistances challenge majoritarian social movements’ analyses.