Playing Patriots: The Role(s) of Child Protestors in the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street Movements

Abstract

This article considers the role(s) of child protestors and activists in both the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements. Both of these movements and activist communities engage with notions and performances of patriotism, as well as with American history and/or their movement’s place in it. Both movements also seek to imagine/manipulate/engage/educate youth about the nation and patriotism in interesting, and often contradictory, ways. I look closely at the ways in which each movement has represented itself to the outside world, as well as the ways the media has represented each movement in newspapers and online forums such as blogs. I explore the ways in which both movements offer opportunities for their young members, as well as their adult counterparts, to engage in “playing patriots” as part of their protests and their more purely educational offshoots.