Local Democracy Under Siege

A luminous work about everyday citizens that should free up local democratic energies across the land!--Aihwa Ong, author of Buddha is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, the New AmericaLocal Democracy Under Siege argues persuasively that American democracy is at a pivotal moment where the forces of exclusion and the ideology of market rule contest with new forms of political activism and engaged citizenship. Readers will take away new perspectives on power, race, class, and activism from this cogent and timely analysis.--Louise Lamphere, co-author of Sunbelt Working Mothers: Reconciling Family and FactoryThis unique study provides a vital enquiry into the troubled times of local democracy and poses critical questions about its future in the USA.--John Clarke, author of Changing Welfare, Changing StatesWhat is the state of democracy at the turn of the 21st century? To answer this question, seven scholars lived for a year in five North Carolina communities. They observed public meetings of all sorts, had informal and formal interviews with people, and listened as people conversed with each other at bus stops and barber shops, soccer games and workplaces. Their collaborative ethnography allows us to understand how diverse members of a community-not just the elite-think about and experience politics in ways that include much more than merely voting.This book illustrates how the social and economic changes of the last three decades have made some new routes to active democratic participation possible while making others more difficult. Local Democracy Under Siege suggests how we can account for the current limitations of U.S. democracy and how remedies can be created that ensure more meaningful participation by a greater range of people.

Dorothy Holland is Cary C. Boshamer Professor of Anthropology at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Donald M. Nonini is Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Catherine Lutz is Professor of Anthropology at Brown University Lesley Bartlett is Assistant Professor of Comparative and International Education at Teachers College, Columbia University Marla Frederick-McGlathery is Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and the Study of Religion Harvard University Thaddeus C. Guldbrandsen is Director of the Center for Rural Partnerships and Research and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire Enrique G. Murillo, Jr., is Associate Professor of Language, Literacy, and Culture in the College of Education, California State University, San Bernardino