Emotion maps of participation in protest: The case of women in black against the occupation in Israel

Abstract

This chapter aims at presenting a general picture of the emotions of protest, which can also capture the “feel” of the field and uncover the fluidity and complexity of these dynamics. Using data collected through participant observations at the vigils of Women in Black (WIB) in Israel, interviews, documents, and WIB website, the chapter presents maps of emotions that go beyond listing emotion words. The analysis follows differentiation between two overarching categories: processes that occur, respectively, outside and inside the vigil's time-space. Within the vigil's time-space setting, three different arenas of action were identified. These arenas were both physical (paralleling the physical layout of the vigil site) and symbolic in which different emotional dynamics evolved. The analysis demonstrates the contribution of emotion maps to our understanding of the emotional dynamics of protest. The study demonstrated the ways in which maps have uncovered the complex scene in which different emotional processes evolve; the fluid nature of emotional responses of both vigilers and spectators as they spill over from one arena to another; and the patterning of emotions into different constellations that point at different processes. The theoretical contributions are discussed.