Student rent strikes: The constitution of activist-learner identities

Social movement research often foregrounds politics over education. In relation to identity, the emphasis is on who is participating and why, rather than identity-in-flux. Here, we focus on theories of identity and recognition to conceptualise the constituting and re-constituting of activist-learner identities within a social movement. In England during Covid-19 lockdowns, some university students were required to pay rent for accommodation they could not occupy, or with reduced amenities. We conducted semi-structured interviews with some of the many students who had responded collectively through rent strikes. The students’ mutual understanding grew, engendering greater appreciation of their variously privileged and marginalised subjectivities. There was a strong sense of the rent strikes as part of a broader social movement against marketised higher education and linked to wider campaigns for social and climate justice. We explore how such collective experiences contribute to constituting and re-constituting activist-learner identities and transform possibilities for future activism.