Political presence and politics of noise

Abstract

The paper is inspired by the recent turn taking place at the intersection of critical citizenship studies and political geography where the meanings of political agency are being contested and re-imagined. As one major theme, this discussion involves the identification of political agency in the practice of everyday life. To introduce a new analytical approach into this line of research, the paper discusses political presence with reference to Jacques Rancie` re’s conceptualisation of politics. By linking his thought with present spatially grounded debates on citizenship and political agency, it considers how the politics of noise can be identified from young people’s everyday encounters with their political communities.