Dancing amidst the flames: Imagination and self-organization in a minor key

Drawing from Deleuze and Guattari's (1986) formulation of the concept of a 'minor literature' and Nick Thoburn's extension of this into a 'minor politics' (2003a) this paper examines the relation between the workings of the imagination and forms of self-organization found within anticapitalist organizing of the Industrial Workers of the World and related movements. This paper explores the modulations of the social imaginary found within these particular examples as indicative of a more general process of minor composition. Rather than affirming an already existing and known subjective position (of the people, the workers), it will be argued that rather such campaigns have playfully and strategically redirected and appropriated the social energies found within pop culture to articulate their demands. Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications