ABSTRACT
In this chapter, repertoires of everyday resistance are explored and discussed, inspired by Tilly’s concept of “contentious repertoires”. It is posited that this concept is particularly useful since it connects to historical configurations of power and their related culturally-learned repertoires. In contrast to Tilly, however, it is argued that agents sometimes are genuinely culturally creative and perform innovative repertoires. The nonviolent movement culture in India serves as an example of how a movement might organize, institutionalize and construct an everyday way of life that is subversive of hegemonic values and ideals. Another example is taken from research on everyday resistance directed at surveillance technologies. The repertoire of behavioral neutralization is, like the society of control, based on manipulation of information and communication technology, and is in this way utilizing the configuration of the power that it tries to undermine. The chapter ends with the “queering” of the dimension of repertoires, focusing on the practice of reverse discourses.
