Anonymity, Technology, and Conflict in the 2020-21 Portland Protests

dc.contributor.advisorNewell, Bryce
dc.contributor.authorFrancis, Elise
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-10T15:05:18Z
dc.date.available2022-05-10T15:05:18Z
dc.date.issued2022-05-10
dc.description.abstractThe murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis ignited protests around the world. Portland, OR quickly emerged as a vanguard for leftist organizing, based on principles of anti-racism, antifascism, and anarchism, leading to nightly demonstrations against law enforcement. The incentives to remain anonymous to thwart identification by police and right-wing opponents play out in-person and in online spaces, prompting new modes of organizing. Monitoring group boundaries, calling out wrongdoings, and limiting information to trusted comrades may estrange others who seek involvement in the rejuvenated Black Lives Matter movement. Social technologies create new dynamics in how activist networks can organize effectively, resolve conflicts, and endure hardship. This thesis proposes that mutual aid offers an inclusive and coalitional approach to addressing inequalities in the Portland community. It does so by leveraging the affordances of digital technologies to benefit the collective without requiring as robust a security culture as protests do and without foreclosing confrontational dissent against institutions of the state.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/27151
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregon
dc.rightsAll Rights Reserved.
dc.subjectanonymityen_US
dc.subjectblack lives matteren_US
dc.subjectleft wing activismen_US
dc.subjectmutual aiden_US
dc.subjectsocial mediaen_US
dc.subjectsocial movementsen_US
dc.titleAnonymity, Technology, and Conflict in the 2020-21 Portland Protests
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
thesis.degree.disciplineConflict and Dispute Resolution Program
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Oregon
thesis.degree.levelmasters
thesis.degree.nameM.S.

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