Search

The paper explores Social Dreaming (SD) as a method for understanding the affective responses to one of the exhibitions that marked the bicentenary of the 1807 Act that abolished the British slave trade, Breaking the Chains: The Fight to End Slavery, at the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum (BECM) in Bristol. It asks whether SD can serve the evolving purposes and mission of museums and their role in society. The theory and practice of SD is described and findings are interpreted from a psychosocial and Deleuzian perspective. Finally the value and potential of SD is discussed as a process for attending to audience reactions to disturbing exhibitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Property damage is a ubiquitous criminal direct action tactic perpetrated by left-wing extremists in Bristol to advance a variety of causes, yet it remains understudied. This study uniquely contributes to the field by analysing the selection of targets for property damage by left-wing extremists in the British town of Bristol. Using police data and online claims of responsibility, this study analyses a number of situational factors providing guardianship at the target locations of 95 Domestic Extremism incidents and compares them with 95 conventional property damage incidents. The results suggest that left-wing extremists do not behave in the same manner as conventional criminals as they fail to conform to theoretical expectations regarding the effect of guardianship on target selection decisions. Instead, Domestic Extremists appear to adhere to decision-making schemas more commonly associated with terrorists. This raises important questions about the relevance and usefulness of these theoretical frameworks for understanding Domestic Extremism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]