Making Politics and Creating Spaces: A Study of the 2012 Québec Student Strikes

This work uses historical, theoretical, and experiential lenses to examine the Québec Student Strikes of 2012. The first section of the work offers a condensed history of the evolution of post-secondary education (PSE) in Québec followed by a parallel review of student activism. The second chapter focuses on different conceptions of political and public space. By focusing on public space and the university as a changing spatial milieu and space of politics, I underline the multiplicity and polyvalence of space, and the ways in which people like students act upon and within spaces to renegotiate and reclaim them. The final chapter presents conversations from seven interviews with individuals who participated in the strike actions followed by theoretical reflections that relate back to the central themes of citizenship, representation, and political action and autonomy.