Jeremy Brown (Simon Fraser University)

To ensure that everyone who wants to attend this talk can do so, this abstract is intentionally abstract. Rest assured that the talk itself will be clear and specific. How people use and interact with each other in urban space changes during periods of protest and during crackdowns against protesters, as we have seen in recent months in such American cities as Portland, Oregon, and Washington, DC. This phenomenon also occurred in China’s capital during the fortieth year of the People’s Republic, when previously formal and somber spaces became sites of spontaneous joy, and when such mundane urban activities as commuting to work or going to a pharmacy for medicine became life-threatening. This talk draws on material from my forthcoming book to analyze how people’s lives changed when the nature of urban space suddenly shifted. I also discuss how events in China’s capital in the fortieth year of the People’s Republic affected (or did not affect) rural people.