The Rhythms of Resistance: Dewey, Deleuze, and the Experience of Occupy Wall Street

Abstract

This paper will explore how John Dewey’s and Gilles Deleuze’s mutual emphasis upon affect and rhythm can illuminate under-appreciated political consequences of Occupy Wall Street. It suggests what I call the sensed “rhythms of resistance” that are produced when activists move through the micro-geography of the encampment and play an important role in the collective becoming and critical dereification many highlight as resulting from their participation in the movement. My argument not only complexifies contemporary interpretations of these two figures, but also raises provocative questions concerning new approaches to critical-democratic practice in the neoliberal era.