‘Bouncing back’ to capitalism? Grass-roots autonomous activism in shaping discourses of resilience and transformation following disaster

Abstract

Resilience has been criticised in many fields for focussing on attempts to bounce back or maintain the status quo following a disturbance. Such conceptualisations can uphold the hegemony of discourses of stability and are potentially unhelpful to groups seeking to achieve radical change. Despite this, the concept is fast subsuming sustainability as the latest catchphrase for community organisations wishing to address social and environmental injustices. Grass-roots groups are mobilising activism to shape this interpretation through post-capitalist visions – creating alternatives to dominant capitalist narratives in the present. This paper will discuss the expression of such radical notions of resilience through exploring how activism intersects with experiences of disaster. Through the case study of Project Lyttelton, a community organisation at the epicentre of the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake in Aotearoa, New Zealand, this research examines the potential for a radical notion of resilience to challenge hegemonic understandings of everyday capitalist life. By exploring this tension between resilience and post-capitalist activism, this paper contributes to an emerging area of critique through articulating a more nuanced understanding of the radical potential for what is often expressed as an inherently non-radical concept.