Affective Framing and Dramaturgical Actions in Social Movements

Abstract

With the increasing use of innovative and expressive dramaturgical actions in contemporary social movements, activists appeal to the public’s emotional and moral convictions so as to elicit action. This study aims to investigate how the affective framing process, composed of sensual–emotional dramaturgical actions, can unleash the mobilizing and consolidating forces in social movements. I seek to elaborate upon the cognitively confined framing perspective by expanding the theoretical discussion to include the affective dimension of framing. I explore these issues through the investigation of a resistance movement in Tsoi Yuen Village, a rural community in Hong Kong, in which people rallied against the demolition of their community to make way for a regional express railway connecting Hong Kong to China. Through this investigation, I argue that dramaturgical tactics employed in social movements enhance the affective mobilization and consolidation power of framing through the mediation of emotional and moral components.

Keywords

social movement mobilization affective framing dramaturgical action framing

Introduction

In contemporary social movements, activists have increasingly resorted to the use of innovative and sensually appealing tactics in order to engage the public. Giant props, road blockades, and a variety of performances have been widely employed in social movements so as to capture the public’s attention, to garner sympathy, and even to stimulate moral convictions in favor of these movements. In fact, the framing efforts of these dramaturgical actions constitute a significant area to be explored, as the framing approach has been criticized for focusing mainly on rational–critical aspects while the emotional or moral dimensions of framing have been neglected and are seldom discussed (Benford, 1997; Goodwin & Jasper, 2006; McAdam, 1996).

In assessing the construction of collective movement frames, Benford and Snow (2000) have conceptualized three overlapping framing processes—discursive, contested, and strategic. However, it seems that the strategic dimension they suggested is rather cognitively confined given that it attempts to explain mobilization through the alignment of meanings on a cognitive level. In order to address this limitation, this study aims to help expand the theoretical discussion of framing perspectives by supplementing the strategic dimension with an affective dimension, which is hoped to better elaborate upon motivational framing and better capture how frames are constructed via the mobilization of emotions. To this end, this study seeks to examine how affective mobilization was achieved via the emotional and moral value-laden framing processes in a resistance movement in Tsoi Yuen Village, a rural community in Hong Kong.

The Tsoi Yuen Resistance Movement

The Tsoi Yuen resistance movement in Hong Kong lasted from December 2008 to February 2011. A wide array of villagers, artists, members of the post-80s generation, and other individuals rallied in opposition the demolition of Tsoi Yuen village, a rural village in the northern part in Hong Kong. This demolition was planned in order to make way for the construction of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail link (the XRL), a national express railway that connects Hong Kong to other major cities in China. The movement was considered significant, as it triggered a remarkable collective action in which over ten thousand people surrounded the building housing Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in order to express their opposition to the funding of the railway construction. It is also of theoretical interest because its oppositional frames challenged Hong Kong’s well-established development discourse.

The Tsoi Yuen resistance movement is a very interesting case, as, in its early phases, it was a typical anti-eviction movement that focused on the injustice of the situation and the residents’ grievances over the forced evictions. However, even after the Hong Kong government rejected all the alternative proposals and insisted on the demolishment of the village, the movement did not end but transformed into a lifestyle movement that embraced postmaterialistic pursuits by highlighting values such as community networks, land, and life. The activists then fought to establish an ecological village, hoping that the promotion of these kinds of lifestyle choices could sustain resistances seeking to oppose the prevailing discourse of development in the long term.

This movement also provides a meaningful and significant context for examining the negotiated space of civil autonomy in postcolonial Hong Kong, where social activists have been successfully constructing counterframes to challenge the dominant discourse of capitalistic development that has been so well established since the colonial era. In fact, it was beyond everyone’s expectations that a small-scale movement formed initially by the residents of about 150 households in the village could be amplified into a vigorous anti-XRL campaign and sustainable lifestyle movement. Under the dominant rhetoric concerning development in Hong Kong, infrastructure proposed by the government is invariably claimed to be capable of bringing enormous economic benefits. It rarely elicits large-scale resistance, and protests usually only arise among a few groups directly affected by the development.

This movement constitutes a rich and illustrative case for exploring the dynamics of framing processes in social movements. The struggle lasted for more than 2 years, during which extensive frame construction, alignment, and transformation processes unfolded throughout its different phases. In this study, I first analyze and identify the major phases of the resistance and the frame transformations taking place at each stage. I argue that there is a shift in framing from a resentful “injustice” frame to a later constructed “choice” frame marked by gratefulness. Second, I discuss and explore the dramaturgical constitution of framing in the later phase of the movement and argue that during this phase the movement was transformed into a lifestyle movement. In performing this analysis, I aim to make sense of the sensual–emotional tactics of the movement and to elaborate upon the affective dimension of the framing perspective. Through these tactics, social and moral affects are framed and manifested in a way that contributes to the consolidation and mobilization of the movement.

Literature Review

The Framing Perspective and Emotions in Social Movements

Framing, in the context of social movements, refers to the work of meaning construction that engages social movement activists and their antagonists, elites, the media, and those organizing countermovements (Snow & Benford, 1988). In social movements, meanings are usually contestable and negotiable; thus, they are open to debate and various interpretations. However, in the study of social movements, emotion has been treated as a suspect enterprise for the past few decades, as social scientists have attempted to portray humans as rational and instrumental, associating emotions with irrationality (Goodwin & Jasper, 2006).

In tracing the study of emotions in politics, we can find that the earliest studies in social movements emphasized emotions and irrationality as part of a pathologizing perspective (Le Bon, 1960). In the crowd-based theories that dominated protest research before the 1960s, emotions were considered the driving force behind virtually all political action that occurred outside normal institutions. However, by the early 1970s, there was a shift from this pejorative tone to a structural, rationalistic, and organizational approach in the study of social movements. In replacing pathological explanations, scholars turned to rational actor models and organizational theory in which activists were treated as rational actors who were blocked from pursuing their interests through regular political channels (Goodwin & Jasper, 2006).

On the other hand, with the rise of the new social movement paradigm suggested by the European scholars in the late 1970s, the domination of instrumental orientations in resource mobilization and political process theories began to receive more acute criticism. As a departure from structural analyses, new social movement theorists started to shift the focus towards culture, identity, and intersubjective processes. For instance, Melucci (1995) recognized the importance of participants’ “emotional investment” in the new collective identities of the time, marking this as a crucial factor in the mobilization process. The framing approach gained in popularity and frames came to be commonly used in social movement literature to capture a number of cultural processes. This approach also attempted to describe the rhetorical processes by which a movement recruits members with the suggestion that, during the recruitment process, organizers and potential participants of protest groups must align their frames so as to achieve a consensus on a social problem and its solution (Snow, Rochford, Worden, & Benford, 1986).

Framing perspectives perceive mobilization as depending not only on the availability and deployment of tangible resources or a cost-benefit calculation but also on the ways that meanings are “aligned” and “activated” so that they “resonate” with targets of mobilization (Snow & Benford, 1988). However, such a mobilization of meanings would not be sufficient to provoke action if it consisted merely in fostering cognitive agreements—emotions must be taken into account as well. Indeed, as Benford (1997) pointed out in his retrospective:

Those operating within the framing/constructionist perspective have not fared much better than their structuralist predecessors in elaborating the role of emotions in collective action. Instead, we continue to write as though our movement actors (when we actually acknowledge humans in our texts) are Spock-like beings, devoid of passion and other human emotions. (p. 419)

It is thus inadequate to study frames without considering people’s feelings regarding specific beliefs and understandings. The examination of emotions in framing studies is of huge significance, as collective emotions in a social movement can be transmuted into a notable emotional energy. McAdam (1996) made a convincing case for giving more attention to the framing function of movement tactics when he used the term “strategic dramaturgy” to denote the kinds of framing tactics that are mindful of the messages and symbols encoded in movement’s actions and demands (p. 348).

Dramaturgical Actions and the Affective Framing Process

Apart from textual and written communications, collective action frames can also be composed of actors’ performances and actions. McAdam (1996) coined the concept of strategic dramaturgy to denote the dramatic actions and performances that appeal to the public’s emotional and moral reactions. By elaborating the affective dimension of framing, analysts are able to move away from the cognitive bias of framing (Benford, 1997; Goodwin & Jasper, 2006).

Nielsen (2008) suggested that an aesthetic discourse is capable of activating the intellectual as well as the emotional and sensory forms of experience and thus can represent a more nuanced potential for Bildung (Schiller, 1795/1982) than a purely cognitive discourse can. Bildung is a key concept in German philosophy that conceptualizes human development as involving the integration of individuals’ sensory, emotional, and intellectual potentials, making them capable of self-reflection in terms of their embeddedness in and obligation towards their social and cultural contexts.

Therefore, the aesthetic elements and inspirations communicated in a publicly displayed dramaturgical performance constitute an expression filled not only with humanistic values but also with moral shocks (Jasper, 1997). These unexpected events or productions raise individuals’ sense of outrage, provoking bystanders’ sympathy and gathering support for the movement. More importantly, these performances inject sentimental, moral, or even spiritual affects into the movement’s frames. As such, the study of these dramaturgical actions can help us understand how affective mobilizations may be enhanced in the framing process.

Affective Framing, Moral Emotions, and the Consolidation of Movements

Gamson (1995) stated that all successful framing involves an injustice component, as people are driven to activism primarily by feelings of anger and frustration as a result of perceived injustice. The accusations that make up the injustice frame are often linked with class-based economic concerns and uneven distribution of material resources. However, as Jasper (1997) argued, the standard definition of injustice that is confined to unfair distribution of material and monetary values should be expanded to include other postmaterialist or moral principles such as religious norms, professional norms, communicative norms, and community norms. In fact, movements today often express demands that are not monetary or materialistic. In contemporary movement paradigms, so-called lifestyle movements are becoming prominent in developed countries, which are defined as movements “that consciously and actively promote a lifestyle or way of life … as their primary means to foster social change” (Haenfler, Johnson, & Jones, 2012, p.2). With these postmaterialistic pursuits, earlier movement studies that focus on negative emotions, such as anger and grievances, seem to be inadequate in understanding contemporary movements. It would be significant to further explore how positive emotions, such as pleasure, joy, awe, reverence, and gratitude, can be integrated into the framing process of social movements.

In this study, the Tsoi Yuen resistance movement transformed from an anti-eviction movement into a lifestyle movement that promotes postmaterialistic values such as community networks, land, and life. In understanding how these pursuits such as lifestyle choices, humanistic community, pleasures in protests, and so on are manifested in affective framing, this study can help analysts grapple more effectively with situations where people are willing to pay more or even devote themselves entirely to social actions that are guided by moral emotions.

Indeed, by discussing the emotional and moral dimensions of frames manifested and expressed by the dramaturgical actions of social movements, we may begin to expand our understanding of the norms constituting a movement’s frames beyond mere materialistic demands. It is also meaningful to explore the solidarity of movement actors through a more multi-layered approach that takes a variety of emotions into account—not only negative affects like anger and grievances but also more positive and even sacred emotions like gratitude, awe, and reverence.

To understand the role of dramaturgical actions in the framing process, I will identify and examine mobilization under an overarching research question: How do dramaturgical actions enhance the role that affective framing plays in the achievement of affective mobilization and consolidation in social movements?

Method

In examining the case study of the Tsoi Yuen resistance movement, I employed multiple methods of gathering information, including textual analysis, participatory observation, and interviews. First, I conducted archival research by looking into publications, pamphlets, and leaflets distributed during the protests or at demonstration sites. Second, I conducted a textual analysis and interpretation of the relevant articles in mainstream media as well as articles posted on the Hong Kong In-Media website (www.inmediahk.net). The Hong Kong In-Media website is one of the most influential citizen-driven media outlets in Hong Kong, and it was also the first media outlet to help expose the grievances of the villagers in Tsoi Yuen village. Using the key words “Tsoi Yuen Tsuen” and “express railway” in my search, I have identified and looked into 156 articles in total. I interpret more intensively the texts produced and distributed by the major movement framers, including the Tsoi Yuen residents and the Tsoi Yuen Concern Group.

Furthermore, I joined most of the protests in different phases of the Tsoi Yuen resistance movement, conducting participatory observation from June 2009 to March 2011. Apart from attending various protests, I also actively took part in the forums, documentary shows, and other activities hosted by the activists, identifying and gaining access to the core activists and supporters in these events. My role was usually that of a complete observer and, on some occasions in which I had casual conversations and semistructured interviews with the activists and participants, that of an observer-as-participant. Apart from these communications, I have also conducted 15 in-depth interviews with the core movement activists, supporters, news reporters, and residents of Tsoi Yuen.

In this study, I will primarily discuss the data collected in two major movement events: the “prostrating walks” that took place from December 2009 to January 2010 (including their advocating text—the “Declaration” of the walks) and the establishment of the “Tsoi Yuen Tsuen Livelihood Place” (including the video clip announcing its opening in March 2010).

Findings

Frame Transformations: From the Resentful “Injustice” Frame to the Grateful “Choice” Frame

The Tsoi Yuen resistance movement, a 2-year struggle, began in 2008 when the Tsoi Yuen residents were first told they would have to move to make way for the XRL. Starting out as a typical anti-eviction movement involving only around 500 residents, the movement eventually escalated into a large-scale anti-XRL movement and finally evolved into a lifestyle movement that struggled to promote an agricultural lifestyle while challenging the capitalistic mode of development.

As deduced as a result of my participation in the movement and from the data collected, this change reflects a transformation of the movement’s framing. In the beginning, the movement constructed an injustice frame, rooted in negative feelings such as resentment and grievances, a frame that expressed the resident’s demands for the demolition or removal of their village to be called off. However, after the government approved the budget for building the XRL and insisted on removing the village in January 2010, the villagers had to compromise and accept the government’s compensation. From one perspective, the movement may be regarded as a failure given that its key demand was rejected. However, in responding to this failure, the movement’s goal evolved and activists shifted to highlight a choice frame. In this phase, it became clear that the villagers would have to move, and the activists and villagers continued the struggle by demanding the establishment of a new village conceived as Hong Kong’s first ecological village. The movement thus sustained and evolved from the original anti-eviction movement into a lifestyle movement, aiming to arouse the public in striking for alternative life choices other than capitalist consumerist lifestyles. Hence, the villagers requested that the government aid them in reestablishing the village so that they could continue farming. More importantly, the activists also established the Tsoi Yuen Tsuen Livelihood Place, which promoted the values of farming and ecological living, which serves to showcase how a production-oriented lifestyle can work.

In this shift, the goal of the movement was no longer merely about opposing the land eviction but became geared towards more postmaterialistic pursuits. It aimed to arouse the public’s reflection on a broadened kind of social development and lifestyle, breaking away from the dominant ideologies of capitalistic development and consumerism. In this choice frame, it is observed that, instead of anger and grievances, positive and sacred emotions like gratitude, awe, love, and hope towards nature and a humanistic community are cultivated. With the frame of “choice,” the movement came to emphasize more the pursuit of an expanded imagination of lifestyle choices which embrace sustainability and humanity.

I contend that dramaturgical actions in the form of prostrating walks and the establishment of the Tsoi Yuen Livelihood Place constitute two essential components in the construction of the choice frame. Cognitively, the frame helped to inspire the public to question whether development should override community lives, neighborhood networks, and lifestyle choices. Affectively, it served as a strong rhetorical tool in activating and arousing affective and moral sensibilities in the movement’s participants as well as in members of the general public, moving and inspiring them to reflect more deeply on the direction of future development in Hong Kong. The choice frame intended to promote a widened scope of social development that takes cultural heritage, human relationships, and environmental sustainability into account.

The Prostrating Walks: Framing the Moral Affects

From December 2009 to January 2010, during the later phase in the movement, a group of activists and supporters, imitating the ritual prayers performed by Tibetan pilgrims, performed a series of prostrating walks around the Legislative Council building so as demonstrate their opposition to the XRL railway construction and their desire to save the Tsoi Yuen village.

Among Tibetans, prostration is a sacred and holy ritual that helps the walkers to purify negativities and generate merit. Adapted from these rituals, the penance walkers of the movement held rice in their hands, marched barefoot, and kneeled their heads to the ground every 26 steps, symbolizing their opposition towards the 26-mile railway. In conveying the meanings behind the prostrating walks to the general public, the activists published and circulated a “Declaration” on a pamphlet and the Internet (Tsoi Yuen Concern Group, 2009). In this Declaration, the protestors explained the symbolic meaning behind the rice being held in the penance walkers’ hands: The grains represented the power of the soil to provide people with food, standing in contrast to the short-sighted urban development that protesters described as destroying the future of the city. The actions of walking and kneeling demonstrated their humble demands for maintaining the Tsoi Yuen agricultural community, demands that were not made merely in defense of their homeland but also illustrated their respect for the soil and how much they treasured this intimate community.

Rice and seeds are tightly held in our hands, carrying the fruits of the future. We are aiming to connect with diverse neighborhoods, and that’s why we come to all five districts. Walking with power in silence, we hope to connect the people step by step. Let’s walk together until we meet outside the Legislative Council on January 8th. Let’s join together in defending the fruits planted with hard work, and let’s grasp the chance to shape the future.

We are focused, silent and patient, we walk and bow, crossing the old buildings in the old districts, penetrating the public housing estates and heading towards the rural fields, so as to feel the power of diversity across those areas. Walking with a slow pace, a heavy step and a quiet body, we are paving the path of the ideal.

A change of mind is triggered by a step; let’s irrigate our watertight future.

Together with the dramaturgical prostrating walks, the text in this Declaration powerfully communicated the message to the public that a reconnection between land and humanity is essential to Hong Kong society.

When these peaceful, slow, and humble prostrating walks took place in Hong Kong, they became very expressive and dramaturgical performances that pushed the movement’s claims effectively into the public-mediated arena. The power of these walks can be demonstrated in the media coverage in the mainstream Hong Kong newspapers. Before these walks, the Tsoi Yuen resistance movement did not capture the media and the public’s attention; however, these prostrating walks received extensive media coverage and the scale of the movement escalated as more and more participants joined the series of prostrating marches across a variety of areas in Hong Kong. In the mainstream media, the number of articles about Tsoi Yuen Tsuen peaked in January 2010 across the major Hong Kong newspapers. As a result of these widespread reports of the prostrating walks, over 10,000 demonstrators were mobilized to sit outside the Legislative Council building. The vigorous demonstrations and the movement’s innovative and humble tactics became important news stories for the mass media.

More importantly, the walks generated sympathy and support from the media and general public, successfully combatting the counterframing strategy of the government that portrayed the Tsoi Yuen residents as greedy and selfish rioters who protested for monetary compensation. The media often took a sympathetic view of the protesters:

The prostrating walk performed by the post-80s generation in December has moved many Hongkongers, there were once more than 100 participants joining the prostrating march yesterday, demonstrating their love to the land and their strong will in defending the village … (“Joining a Prostrating Walk,” 2010)

The penance walkers, the young generation in Hong Kong, are kind-hearted and patient strikers. Their tears have nurtured the land, they are proposing solutions to our society: a change in value, conception and attitude … They carried out their actions to demonstrate how to respect our environment, land, lives and people. (“Visual Politics in 2010,”2010)

Apart from garnering attention from the media and the general public, the prostrating walks also greatly reinforced emotional connections among the supporters of the movement because these walks made manifest the abstract human–nature connection. As attested in the following quotes, these actions were successful in fostering strong and deep emotional connections among the protestors:

During the walks, I was so touched as I was like a quarantined species, receiving infinite care and endless greetings from my friends. I did not need to handle anything but just to walk. It was not hard for us, the penance walkers; it was the effort of the people taking care of us. I was so grateful for all of their preparations.

Throughout the 3-day prostrating walk, I kept thinking whether it is a must for us to live at such a rapid pace. We can live well without the express rail link. But we cannot survive without love and care. Human connection is so important and thus it motivates us to strike for a better future. (K. Or, July 2011, personal communication)

Through the physical and tangible experiences brought about by these walks, the participants could indeed reflect on abstract postmaterialistic pursuits, human relationships, and alternative modes of urban development. These reflections are illustrated in the words of another walker:

We are all suffering from rapid urban development: privatization of public spaces, urban redevelopment projects, alienated human relationships. We hope that we can be more united when we realize that we are suffering from the same problem. I hope that everyone can stop and think. Do we really need an express rail link? We have to make a very important judgment which involves a 66.9 billion construction. Do we want blind development, or more intimate local communities and networks? I treasure these communal and humanistic values so much. I do not want the destiny of our city to lie solely in the hands of a few government officials or [functional constituency] legislators! (J. Lau, July 2012, personal communication)

In performing for the public, a movement’s actors not only contribute to the expression of the movement’s political and moral ideals but also act to manifest the movement’s moral aspirations, making the movement’s pursuits no longer unreachable abstractions or vague ideas.

The prostrating walks were a good example of moral mediation. They manifested and visualized the proclamation “this is our land.” The protesters’ dramatic gestures of holding and protecting the rice in their hands and the repeated process of taking 26 steps and one bow provided a strong image through which the movement’s aims were manifested. The activists’ desires and aspirations for embracing and restoring a humanistic lifestyle connected with the land were unmistakably and powerfully expressed, as reflected in the following participant’s comments:

I chose to join the prostrating walk as this was mental training for me. I hope to reflect on the relationship between man and land through this act. Many friends of mine did not care about the XRL, but after I joined this walk, they started to pay attention to this issue when they saw me on television. Of course I cannot influence everyone but I can trigger some of my friends to show more concern about our society. I hope that our society can become better and fairer. I believe I am doing something meaningful. (T. Choi, May 2012, personal communication)

In the prostrating walks, penance walkers were projected as peaceful and humble actors who were willing to suffer in these exhausting marches so as to make their claims. These actions successfully framed and heightened the movement by introducing a sacred and moral dimension. These vivid and robust manifestations were important in provoking positive and even sacred emotions towards the movement’s actors. These positive or empathic feelings towards fellow members of a movement are also very influential components of mobilization mechanisms.

With moral aspirations towards gratitude, humanity, and dignity being vibrantly demonstrated in the prostrating walks, the Tsoi Yuen villagers and their supporters generated very positive affect among the movement actors themselves, as well as in the general public. The manifestations of feelings of compassion and the moral aspirations towards a more sustainable and humanistic lifestyle successfully encouraged more bystanders to become aware of the movement’s central claims and to get involved.

Tsoi Yuen Tsuen Livelihood Place: Framing the Social Affects

Another dramaturgical action employed in support of the construction of the choice frame was the establishment of the Tsoi Yuen Tsuen Livelihood Place, which aimed to arouse the significance of a certain kind of alternative lifestyle by showcasing the organic farming community in the city. By actually living agricultural, rural, and permacultural lives, the participants sought to proclaim and demonstrate the possibilities of an alternative and productive lifestyle beyond the dominant capitalist and consumerist mode of urban life.

The Livelihood Place was established in March, 2010, 2 months after the movement failed to stop the approval of budget for the XRL construction. It was initially located near the entrance of the Tsoi Yuen village. Participants cleared an abandoned pigsty in the village, opened up a farmland, and built a shed in establishing the Livelihood Place. Organic farming was practiced on the farmland whereas the shed provided a place for participants to eat, rest, gather, and prepare farm work. The Livelihood place was later relocated and settled on a 20,000 square feet farmland in a nearby village when the Lands Department began to resume the land of Tsoi Yuen Village in November 2011.

The activists stated that the Livelihood Place provided an important physical base for the construction of the collective identity of the movement based on the needs and values shared among the participants. The identity of the “Half-Farmer” was developed and sustained via the actual farming practices in the Livelihood Place (Lo, 2012). This formation of an actual agricultural community significantly enhanced the affective bonding among the internal supporters of the movement.

In announcing and publicizing the opening of the Livelihood Place in March 2010, the activists of the Tsoi Yuen Concern Group produced a video that was posted on the Hong Kong In-Media website and YouTube (Suededevil, 2010). The video lasts 6 minutes and 41 seconds. As the video is a very illustrative text in elaborating the goals of the Livelihood Place, I am going to interpret some important threads in this video.

Up until the 1:16 mark, images of the prostrating walks are shown while gloomy music plays in the background. A female narrator explains the background of the movement and how the Tsoi Yuen village was sacrificed in order to make way for the XRL construction:

The anti-XRL movement has revealed the fact that the Hong Kong government and its closely attached interested parties have already turned Hong Kong into a “privilege club” city which is seriously tilted and biased towards the few dominating interest groups. Is living by the routines designated and confined by the urban transportation chain the only option for the majority of Hongkongers? Is living from hand to mouth the only choice for us? If it goes on, is there any hope to pass on to our next generation?

While the value of this “white elephant” is negated, it is time for us to reflect what kind of life we are seeking. The anti-XRL campaign was sparked by Tsoi Yuen village, yet the movement was not ended even though funding was approved by those functional constituency members who prefer to please the authorities. On the contrary, a more profound movement striking for a more autonomous life is ready to kick off! (Video transcript)¹

Images of the prostrating walks fade out at 1:27, and cheerful and uplifting music fades in. The video then shows youngsters and Tsoi Yuen villagers hard at work, clearing up the abandoned pigsty and clearing the farmland.

An interview with Ko Chuen-heung, the chairlady of the Tsoi Yuen Concern Group, begins at 2:20. The interview shot shows a group working in a field behind her. Despite being disappointed that Tsoi Yuen village is going to be demolished, she expresses excitement at the sight of so many young supporters practicing farming and enjoying precious moments on the farmland:

I’m really so shocked and surprised to see that the abandoned land can be turned into such a beautiful field! Who has done all this wonderful work? It was done by these amazing young people behind me! I haven’t seen so many people working on the field for a long time. There were not that many people working together even in my childhood! They are really superb! (Video transcript)

At 3:00, the video then goes on to show the happy faces of those who worked so hard at clearing the farmland. The interview with Ko Chuen-heung then resumes with her explaining to the audience that a capitalistic and consumerist lifestyle should never be the sole choice available for city dwellers, and that Hong Kong people can in fact seek more possibilities in lifestyle choices:

These youngsters gave [the Tsoi Yuen villagers] a sense of hope. It seems that there is a new life coming and it is going to be a better life. In fact, many Hongkongers are seeking a better way of life, and today we can see that these youngsters are really trying to create these better ways of living. Through laboring, it would be a true experience for them to feel the connection between man, earth and humanity. They are actualizing a genuine environmental conservation as they have to eat what they farmed and there is no McDonald’s feeding them. These activities are in fact a philosophy and education for life. These experiences would be more real and useful than the knowledge they gained from books, schools and the media.

I believe that their hard work and actualization of life in the Livelihood Place can inspire other Hongkongers. (Video transcript)

After the interview with Ko Chuen-heung, a villager and an activist express their happiness about setting up the Livelihood Place. Then, the female voiceover fades in at 5:47, calling to the audience to join the grand opening of the Livelihood place:

We are going to hold various exhibitions and workshops so as to connect with the daily lives of different people and communities. By doing so, we aim to rediscover community networks that are embedded with humanity and compassion towards the land. Together with the villagers and Hong Kong people, we look forward to rediscovering and reflecting on the relationship between “urban” and “rural” lives. (Video transcript)

The Tsoi Yuen Livelihood Place as a manifestation of the choice frame served as an important physical locale in building affective bonds among the members and sustaining the movement. It did not just cognitively communicate the pursuit of alternative lifestyles to the public, but it also acted as a live and dynamic network that actualized the members’ ideal way of living. In their daily farming activities, the participants developed a sense of belonging and a collective identity. This is illustrated in an interview of a participant of the Livelihood Place, who considered the alternative and rural lifestyle upheld there to be a precious experience:

I joined some other social movements before but they were only oppositions; however, I am satisfied with the “community building” here [the Livelihood Place]. It is no longer merely an empty claim but we are actualizing an alternative lifestyle, which is rather fulfilling. (J. Lau, personal communication, July 2012)

In fact, when the budget for the XRL project was approved in January 2010, it seemed that the movement was about to disperse. However, the establishment of the Tsoi Yuen Livelihood Place and the transformation of the movement’s frame from one concerned with injustice to one concerned with choice brought the movement onto new ground.

Sociologists have shown that the affective bonds and personal ties that forge solidarity and motivate participation serve as important elements for recruitment in social movement networks. Day-to-day interactions are important in building emotional loyalty among groups pursuing their goals in repressive circumstances (Epstein, 1991; Lichterman, 1996; Lofland, 1996).

In the Tsoi Yuen resistance movement, the Livelihood Place served an essential role in consolidating strong networks in which the members shared a movement identity as well as a mutual belief. The daily farming activities in the Livelihood Place largely contributed to building and binding an affective network involving young activists, the villagers, and other supporters.

Evidence that the bonding among the participants and supporters was strong can also be found in the fact that many of them were willing to join the “Tsoi Yuen Patrol Team” later in October 2010. Members of the patrol team guarded and defended the old Tsoi Yuen village and struggled with the government and officials on issues of land resumption at the end of 2010. Those in the patrol team were involved in vigorously physical confrontations with the police and government officials for over 3 months, attempting to prevent the village from being demolished before the government promised an obstacle-free plan for the relocation of the residents to a new village. Without strong determination and affective bonding, I propose that these patrol teams would not have been so committed and devoted to protecting the village and the villagers in this way.

Discussion and Conclusion

This study has investigated the dramaturgical tactics employed in the Tsoi Yuen resistance movement, tactics that are considered to be prominent contributors to the enrichment of the affective dimension of the framing process. Dramaturgical actions in this movement aroused sensual–emotional responses and shifted the focus of the movement towards an alternative discourse concerned with sustainable development. Through these affective framing efforts, the norms that constituted the movement’s frames were expanded. Moreover, affective framing helped to manifest moral aspirations and cultivate affective bonds in the consolidation of the movement.

The Tsoi Yuen resistance movement is an illustrative case in the exploration of affective framing, as it evolved a frame transformation from a resentful “injustice” frame to a later grateful “choice” frame. Dramaturgical performances take a more significant role in expressing and articulating the movement's social and moral affects, in turning greatly enhancing the consolidation of the movement internally and externally.

In the prostrating walk performed in the movement, the penance walkers not only demonstrated vividly to the public their moral reflections in the relationship between man and nature, but also they themselves experienced gratitude, care, and love from their fellow members. Such feelings presumably greatly consolidated the movement’s alliances. Rituals involving face-to-face social interaction can generate emotional energy and solidarity by enforcing the physical copresence of individuals and encouraging an awareness of one another. This can help to sustain social movements by synchronizing participants’ actions and developing symbolic and moral representations of their claims (Collins, 2004). Urged on by a mode of reflective judgment, the affective framing efforts brought about by the prostrating walks can help to manifest and make visual certain moral aspirations, helping the public to better understand the movement’s claims.

Moreover, because of these dramaturgical actions, the Tsoi Yuen resistance movement was also perceived as a “protest of pleasure” by many mainstream media outlets and local commentators. The prostrating walk, though it was carried out in a heavy and gloomy manner, brought about a deep self-reflection and a sense of satisfaction and pride in the participants. Also, the enjoyable proceedings in the Livelihood Place created strong pleasurable feelings and reactivated the affective bonds among the group. As such, an expanded discussion on the affective dimension of framing that incorporates not only grievances and anger but also pleasure and joy presents a significant area for further exploration in the framing perspective.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Note

Author Biography

Miranda L. Y. Ma is a lecturer of communication at Hong Kong Baptist University. She teaches communication theory, advertising, and society and mass communication. Her research interests include political communication, social movements, and media activism.

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