American Protest Cultures

From the revolutionary rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence to contemporary mobilizations against democratic backsliding, protest has been central to the American experiment. The United States often understands itself as a nation born of dissent—its identity shaped not only by institutions of governance but also by those who challenge them. Across centuries, across borders, protest has functioned as a cultural engine: from abolitionists, suffragists and conscientious objectors to Black Lives Matter and climate justice activists; from Native and Indigenous sovereignty movements to digital grassroots campaigns; from countercultural art to the transformative power of music, satire, and performance. 

How do protest movements produce meaning and mobilize feeling? How do they generate new political subjectivities and collective identities? How do they transcend borders and boundaries? What role do aesthetics and embodiment play in sustaining movements and shaping their legacies? And how might we understand protest not simply as a response to injustice, but as a generative force in American cultural life?

In an era marked by intensified polarization, environmental crises, renewed struggles over civil rights, and the rise of populist and authoritarian tendencies, these questions feel especially urgent. This conference invites scholars across disciplines—history, sociology, literature, political science, media studies, art history, cultural studies, gender studies, environmental humanities, Indigenous studies, performance studies, and beyond—to examine the diverse forms, aesthetics, affects, and infrastructures of protest in the United States, and the ways the current moment has shaped protest within and between the United States, Canada and Mexico. 

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