The politics of exhaustion

Abstract

Drawing on our comparative research project conducted in six European cities, this article proposes a tentative politics of exhaustion as a way to understand the promise and perils of women of colour activists’ solidarity work. Through an examination of how women of colour activists strategise, organise and mobilise, we demonstrate the political and psychological impact of exhaustion. To declare exhaustion, we argue, is to hail the equally exhausted to build solidarity. Understanding the politics of exhaustion can help shed light on the creative practices of women of colour activists in European cities today, as well as highlight the structural processes that demand activists’ exhaustion.

Keywords:

• women of colour
• European cities
• exhaustion
• solidarity
• social movements

Notes

1 The project is funded by the Open Society Foundation (OR2018-43276), November 2018–April 2021.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Akwugo Emejulu

Akwugo Emejulu is Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick. Email: [email protected]

Leah Bassel

Leah Bassel is Professor of Sociology at the University of Roehampton. Email: [email protected]