Waking Up in a World of Crises: Experiences of Protesters in the Hague

This thesis explores the personal-political dimension of turbulent transformation. More specifically, it addresses the following question: How is the personal-political dimension of turbulent transformation expressed in the awakening of protesters? It investigates this through a case study of protesters in a context where multiple crises are manifesting and becoming increasingly contested through protests and riots. This thesis first presents an embodied experience of the researcher that is emblematic of a larger context of turbulent transformation and that formed the starting point of the research. It then conceptualizes the relationship between crises, transformation, and the personal-political. This thesis next discusses socio-ecological change in the Netherlands and the Hague in particular. This interdisciplinary study is situated within system science, sustainability science, and transformation literatures. It is guided by a feminist research ethic, deeply engaging with contextuality, reflexivity, and relationality. It conducts relational interviews with protesters. This thesis contributes empirically to the literature by offering five vignettes that elucidate how protesters are witnessing, and in most cases personally going through, a shared but nevertheless differentiated process of awakening. Their awakening resembles significant changes in meaning-making, and could therefore be interpreted as a personal transformation that got triggered by the multiple crises manifesting in their everyday lives. Rather than only focusing on what protesters wake up to, this research points to the importance of how protesters give meaning to their agency once they have woken up. The finding that practice matters has important implications for the field of transformation. Within the context of the new movements for change, we must analyze how a shared but nevertheless differentiated sense of awakening shapes how people choose to act. Considering that not every transformation results in equitable and sustainable outcomes, we must deepen our understanding of transformation as it unfolds, while promoting conscious and deliberate transformation towards socially just and sustainable futures.