This qualitative interpretive investigation scrutinizes the discursive construction of horizontality within the context of contemporary social movements. Drawing on a corpus of recorded interactions between bicycle advocates in Rio de Janeiro, narrative and identity practices are analyzed in light of gendered frameworks and their possible contestation.
The notion of horizontal organization continues to hold resounding appeal for those seeking to build fairer societies. However, contemporary social movements have come to be viewed as largely synonymous with the concept, without being subject to further scrutiny. Therefore, in this qualitative interpretive case study, we ask to what extent symmetrical relations may materialize discursively within an ostensibly horizontal group. In order to do so, we examine the narrative and interactional practices of a group of bicycle advocates, whose claims over the use of public space are understood to be intertwined with the struggles of minority groups in a wider sense. Our data comprises audio recordings of face to face debates held by bicycle advocates in Rio de Janeiro from 2015 to the present date. This ongoing doctoral project unites insider and outsider perspectives in order to investigate the negotiation of meaning and its possible relation with large scale social structures, particularly gendered frameworks. Drawing on constructs of identity as performance, the interactions interrogated here are conceived of as fertile terrain for social actors to negotiate their identities and lay claim to symbolic power. Our analysis, therefore, seeks to trace the navigation of power dynamics at play between those whose perceived social identities are understood to be organized hierarchically. Initial findings suggest that the activists’ linguistic action simultaneously challenges and reifies conventional perceptions of femininity, rendering the creation of symmetrical relationships a complex endeavor. As such, this study highlights the need to take a critical stance towards discursive practice in order to further understand the construction of horizontality. In so doing, it may then be possible to create communities which foster minority groups’ active participation and the very transformative practice sought out by those who engage in social movements.
