Critique and Neoliberalism's Critics: Art, Activism, and Uncertainty in Post-Recession Dublin
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation sets forth a call for an anthropology of forms of critique and critical thinking as a generative site for political anthropological theory, and itself offers an initial answer to that call. It makes its case from the ground up, originating in an ethnographic account of a group of contemporary critics in Dublin and how they understand and navigate the relationship between doubt, thought, and political action. In so doing, this dissertation grapples head on with the effects of non-neutral, critical orientations to theoretical and political knowledge on the ‘factfulness’ of ethnographic accounts. Its ethnographic focus is a group of leftist artist-activists in post-recession Dublin critical of the ‘social turn’ in contemporary art and urban development, and of how they understand and deal with uncertainty in the context of one of the EU’s most speculative economies. In particular, I explore how they build alternative spaces and communities in often hidden and ad-hoc squats, studios, and collectives in the city; in their activist campaigns; and in their art acts and performances. I offer an account of how they broker complex critical relationships with the ideals and practices of liberalism, socialism, and anarchism alike, and leverage a kaleidoscopic toolkit of critical methods to interrogate and draw into question the legitimacy of what they describe as contemporary ‘neoliberal’ governance. Proceeding through five core ethnographic chapters, I trace a narrative of different forms and scales of uncertainty, and my interlocutors’ political and moral-ethical relationships to them. I focus in turn on 1) how they understand and critically deploy various ‘uses’ of neoliberalism, as multivalent ethnographic concept, to take stock of the effects of urban restructuring; 2) their approach to the experimental spaces in which they work and organise; 3) their arts practice; 4) their activist strategies; and 5) their forms of self-presentation and relationships wi…
abstract: This dissertation sets forth a call for an anthropology of forms of critique and critical thinking as a generative site for political anthropological theory, and itself offers an initial answer to that call. It makes its case from the ground up, originating in an ethnographic account of a group of contemporary critics in Dublin and how they understand and navigate the relationship between doubt, thought, and political action. In so doing, this dissertation grapples head on with the effects of non-neutral, critical orientations to theoretical and political knowledge on the ‘factfulness’ of ethnographic accounts. Its ethnographic focus is a group of leftist artist-activists in post-recession Dublin critical of the ‘social turn’ in contemporary art and urban development, and of how they understand and deal with uncertainty in the context of one of the EU’s most speculative economies. In particular, I explore how they build alternative spaces and communities in often hidden and ad-hoc squats, studios, and collectives in the city; in their activist campaigns; and in their art acts and performances. I offer an account of how they broker complex critical relationships with the ideals and practices of liberalism, socialism, and anarchism alike, and leverage a kaleidoscopic toolkit of critical methods to interrogate and draw into question the legitimacy of what they describe as contemporary ‘neoliberal’ governance. Proceeding through five core ethnographic chapters, I trace a narrative of different forms and scales of uncertainty, and my interlocutors’ political and moral-ethical relationships to them. I focus in turn on 1) how they understand and critically deploy various ‘uses’ of neoliberalism, as multivalent ethnographic concept, to take stock of the effects of urban restructuring; 2) their approach to the experimental spaces in which they work and organise; 3) their arts practice; 4) their activist strategies; and 5) their forms of self-presentation and relationships wi…
author: Morningstar, Natalie Camille
language: en
keywords: neoliberalism, critique, political anthropology, liberal democracy, socialism, activism, art, gentrification, urban renewal, capitalism, urban anthropology, built environment
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/eda52cdc-057b-4596-a3c5-db233b06f7e9/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2020-07-17
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:25Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.46538