Transformations of Public Space and the Limits of Resistance in Biographic Narratives of Workers

Abstract

This essay analyses biographic memories of practices of resistance of workers in the industrial transformation region in the south of Nuremberg. These memories are marked by a nostalgic view of public space in former times, which is put in contrast with public space as it is today. While former practices of resistance are remembered with nostalgia, present-day resistance practices are described as threatening practices performed by others. It turns out that nostalgia for resistance in the public space in the past is also a social positioning in the present.