Leaves of Grassroots Politics: Democracy, the Swarm, and the Literatures of the Americas

When the phrase "grassroots politics" is used in the literature and scholarship of the Americas, it is meant to imply a division between a class of people "above" other people who are "at the grassroots level." At best, this division implies a hierarchy, and at worst, it reinforces the idea that people "at the grassroots level" are powerless compared to the people "above" them. This project challenges this traditional interpretation of grassroots politics. Because to be concerned with the root or the roots is to be radical, I argue that grassroots politics should be reinterpreted as a synonym for radical democracy.