Devenir ingouvernable : Pour une approche processuelle de l’émeute

Abstract

Reviewing the literature in the humanities and social sciences which analyse riots, this article proposes a new theoretical avenue for understanding this particular form of insurrection: a processual approach. Grounded in organizational studies research which mobilizes this approach, the article analyzes the riot that led to the fire of the 3rd District Police Station in Minneapolis in May 2020. The processual approach allows us to unfold the riot and explore how it is embodied not by criminals and madmen, but by strategists who communicate intensely while distributing tasks over a particular territory. Ultimately, the article invites us to take a different look at riots in order to consider them as a moving organization, made up of co-affected bodies and producer of new forms of social life.

Keywords

• social movements
• Riot
• looting
• processual approach
• Minneapolis
• digital anthropology.