Mapping Political Graffiti: Urban Appropriations of Public Space

the spatial parameter, and public space, has largely been ignored within the analysis of contentious politics,1 particularly as an explanatory variable. With social movement theory having been rooted in the sociological and political science disciplines, social and political explanations are preferred to geographic or spatial ones. While some scholars of urban contentious politics have discussed space, this discussion is often far removed from space itself. likewise, however, scholars exploring the spatial have infrequently examined their role in protest events and their use by political activists. this intersectional gap is what we hope to help fill in this essay. We will explore the extant (although sparse) literature on the subject before introducing theoretical components and investigations of a case study of political artscapes.