2021: Autumn Special Issue

DINÂMIA’CET-IUL’s journal in Urban Studies

Biannual open access journal.

Out 2021

‘People Have the Power’: Songs of Resistance in Late Modernity

Where there were deserts I saw fountains/ Like cream the waters rise/ And we strolled there together/ With none to laugh or criticize/ And the leopard and the lamb/ Lay together truly bound/ I was hoping in my hoping/ To recall what I had found/ (…) People have the power/ People have the power/ People have the power/ People have the power. The power to dream, to rule/ To wrestle the world from fools/ It's decreed: the people rule/ It's decreed: the people rule/ Listen. I believe everything we dream/ Can come to pass through our union/ We can turn the world around/ We can turn the earth’s revolution1 . This Patti Smith song was the fuse that ignited this Special Issue. We would like to acknowledge that 2021, like the year before it, has been a very difficult time for many. The impacts of COVID-19 continue to be globally significant, and countries, cities and communities continue to grapple with its spread. This special issue centres on popular music and particularly on music as an expression of power in the face of social problems. While none of the articles included here relate directly to the COVID-19 pandemic we hope that some of its themes will be meaningful for those who are engaged in the struggle against it.