Location Matters: The Rhetoric of Place in Protest

Social movements often deploy place rhetorically in their protests. The rhetorical performance and (re) construction of places in protest can function in line with the goals of a social movement. Our essay offers a heuristic framework-place in protest-for theorizing the rhetorical force of place and its relationship to social movements. Through analysis of a variety of protest events, we demonstrate how the (re) construction of place may be considered a rhetorical tactic along with the tactics we traditionally associate with protest, such as speeches, marches, and signs. This essay has implications for the study of social movements, the rhetoricity of place, and how we study places.