Leadership, Inclusion, and Group Decision-Making in HONK! Bands
Meghan Elizabeth Kallman
The goal of this chapter is to explore the ways in which the political and social priorities of street bands are articulated within the groups themselves through internal group organizing and processes, and how these processes reflect their connection to cities and their allegiance to ideas of inclusion. Using ethnographic and interview data from five New England street bands, this chapter explores how their structural and organizational processes comprise a prefigurative commitment to a new way of living and being – how the “right to the city” is expressed internally and interpersonally within these groups. Ultimately, it argues that the commitment to democracy, consensus, and shared leadership that many of these bands express—contested, imperfect, and necessarily incomplete as they may be–is nevertheless an expression of a broader type of prefiguration, and is deeply bound to a political vision of cities and social relationships.
Meghan Elizabeth Kallman is an Assistant Professor at the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development at UMASS Boston. She studies development, inclusion, public management, and organizational processes.
Meghan Elizabeth Kallman
The goal of this chapter is to explore the ways in which the political and social priorities of street bands are articulated within the groups themselves through internal group organizing and processes, and how these processes reflect their connection to cities and their allegiance to ideas of inclusion. Using ethnographic and interview data from five New England street bands, this chapter explores how their structural and organizational processes comprise a prefigurative commitment to a new way of living and being – how the “right to the city” is expressed internally and interpersonally within these groups. Ultimately, it argues that the commitment to democracy, consensus, and shared leadership that many of these bands express—contested, imperfect, and necessarily incomplete as they may be–is nevertheless an expression of a broader type of prefiguration, and is deeply bound to a political vision of cities and social relationships.
Meghan Elizabeth Kallman is an Assistant Professor at the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development at UMASS Boston. She studies development, inclusion, public management, and organizational processes.