Performing Conservative Politics

Abstract

Research on political performance has typically addressed macro-level performances, such as highly visible protests and demonstrations from progressive organizations. Using ethnographic data from various conservative organizations in Southern Nevada, I demonstrate how conservatives perform their ideology with a small-scale, generally like-minded audience. The activists I observed strategically created places filled with conservative symbolism to demonstrate the ideas and practices they welcome and support. They embodied a conservative style through their self-presentation, signaling their political commitments. They perform their ideology through the talk they engage in with others in the political spaces. I pay particular attention to the role of place in ideological performances, detailing how activists strategically create and transform ordinary spaces into conservative places, setting a specific tone, mood, and message for their performances, and enhancing participants’ experiences. In these conservative places, activists display and forge their collective identity, demarcate boundaries between themselves and others, and sustain their participation.