The Discoursive Dimension of Transformative Events: Integrating Protest Event Analysis and Discourse Theory in a Nested Design

The realization that the relation between states and movements is dynamic and works both ways (i.e., causal effects on repertoires, alliances and framing can be identified on both sides) informs the conceptual perspective of ever more studies of protest (a.o., Alimi, Bosi, and Demetriou 2012; della Porta 2014; Volpi and Jasper 2018). From a relational perspective, movements are not static actors, endowed with certain features and traits that can be inferred based on their ideology, class position, or religious affiliation. Instead, political subjects (including collective actors) come into being via interaction in collective action events. Social movements can thus be seen as populations of collective actions, which are punctual and discontinuous rather than linear, or continuous. It is the individual collective action events that become the moments of structuring for these discontinuities. But not all events are created equal: To conceptualize turning points in the history of social movements McAdam and Sewell (2001) introduce the notion of transformative events. The basic idea of transformative events is that of a short-term temporality that opens a new temporal register wherein a new future becomes possible (Schwedler, 2016). Becoming part of the cultural stock of a movement, these symbolic events provide reference points for mobilization and resources for collective identity formation. These extraordinary moments, in which the different mobilising vectors of social movements converges, should also be seen as opportunities for social movement scholars to observe how mobilized actors and state agents interact both directly on the ground (collective actions vs policing) and indirectly in the discoursive sphere where events are interpreted, and the ways how these two arenas of parallel struggles inform each other. The methodological framework presented in this contribution gives due to these considerations by building a bridge between the contentious politics research programm and discourse theoretical approaches in the tradition of the Essex school. As will be shown, thinking of discourses as a symbolic struggle at the level of signifiers (Howarth and Torfing 2005) allows for a methodology that combines protest event analysis (Hutter 2014) and discourse analysis in a nested research design (Lieberman 2015). Ascribing to a conception of contention as eventful protest (della Porta 2011; McAdam and Sewell 2001; Tarrow 1998) and demonstrating how discourse theoretical considerations and political opportunity approaches interrelate, an integrated approach to the study of contentious politics is presented and empirically illustrated in a case study of a transformative protest event in Egypt, involving brutal policing practices, which can serve as a guide for the deep study of intriguing events ‘in terms of the meanings people bring to them’ (Denzin and Lincoln 2000, 3).