Talking about Resistance: Ethnography and Theory in Rural France

Resurrected pigs, dyed foxes and beloved cows: Religious diversity and nostalgia for socialism in rural Poland

“…6 Whilst such 'contradictory complementarity' (Creed, 1995(Creed, , 1998 has been highlighted by numerous scholars studying (post) socialist realities, a similar phenomenon can also be traced in different contexts and may, for example, indicate the strategies characteristic for rural areas. Indeed, comparable observations have been presented by Reed-Danahay (1993) in her account of a French village, the inhabitants of which skilfully combine resistance and accommodation in developing their 'coping strategies' of everyday life. In her view, local practices and discourses can be best defined as ways of 'making do' and 'making out': managing with what is available in a given situation, by skilfully using available resources, and taking advantage of this situation.…”

“…The richness of such expressions in nostalgic accounts proves the importance of studying this phenomenon as local and plural: as a phenomenon that draws on what is familiar and known but also arises from a variety of experiences and contexts. At the same time, these 'local' observations on life in (post)socialism go far beyond the Polish case; they can be helpful for the understanding of other post-1989 contexts, illustrate some widespread 'ways of operating' among the inhabitants of poor, rural areas (Reed-Danahay, 1993), and, perhaps, account for some universal forms of people's remembering.…”

“…Ortner, 1995Ortner, , 1997Abu-Lughod, 1990;Reed-Danahay, 1993). In order to do so, it is necessary to view resistance as a multifaceted phenomenon which takes different forms and serves different purposes.…”

A tragedy of errors? Institutional dynamics and land tenure in Finnmark, Norway

“…Instead, they are more subtle authoritative processes by which less powerful actors bypass rules or try to reshape them by their enactments. Following Reed-Danahay (1993), we propose that this type of resistance (which she terms 'débruillardise') is a type of bricolage in that it implies both accommodation and resistance, and is a way of outwitting the dominant ideologies, of disentangling oneself from rules that are perceived as illegitimate or in contradiction with institutional apparatus perceived as legitimate. Such creative forms of 'make do', rely on contriving ways "to subvert or outwit dominant cultural forms and meanings" (ibid, 228) from within the system, without openly confronting it.…”

Contrived Making Do As Rhetorical Practice in Outdoor Recreation

“…This metaphor of power is useful for theorizing making do because it exposes both the strength and vulnerability present within individuals and communities that can emerge under different circumstances. For example, ReedDanahay (1993) explains that the community of rural French farmers she studied avoided direct confrontation with powerful government officials and exercised their own power in subtle ways such as failing to report that a broken public telephone (the state owned the telephone company) was allowing everyone to make phone calls for free.…”