Dis/entangling riots as terrains of struggle: Legitimacy, territoriality, civility

In this short commentary I draw out three intersecting threads from Dunlap and Kass’ article Rioting as legitimate abolitionist practice. First, I consider the contested nature of legitimacy, and how this unfolds during and following riots. Second, thinking about the territorial dimensions of rioting opens up timely questions about the extent to which riots are inherently antisystemic, and how the social and spatial are brought together in riot situations. Third, I suggest that riots bring to light deeper forms of citizenship and civic virtue that both exceed and are anathema to dominant state-centred orderings of societies. In concluding, I reiterate the importance of understanding and appreciating the political significance of riots for imagining and building alternative futures.