Full Description
Now in paperback for the first time, Social Movements and their Technologies
explores the interplay between social movements and their 'liberated
technologies'. It analyzes the rise of low-power radio stations and radical
internet projects ('emancipatory communication practices') as a political
subject, focusing on the sociological and cultural processes at play. It
provides an overview of the relationship between social movements and
technology, and investigates what is behind the communication infrastructure
that made possible the main protest events of the past fifteen years. In doing
so, Stefania Milan illustrates how contemporary social movements organize in
order to create autonomous alternatives to communication systems and networks,
and how they contribute to change the way people communicate in daily life, as
well as try to change communication policy from the grassroots. She situates
these efforts in a historical context in order to show the origins of
contemporary communication activism, and its linkages to media reform campaigns
and policy advocacy.
Contents
Foreword.- Preface.- 1.Stealing the Fire: An Introduction to Emancipatory Communication Activism.- 2.Three Decades of Contention: The Roots of Contemporary Activism.- 3.Movement Formation and Identity Building.- 4.Organizational Forms.- 5.Repertories of Action: Mobilizing Inside, Outside and Beyond.- 6.Like a Karst River: A Transnational Movement in the Making?- Epilogue.- Appendix I:Methods and Epistemology of Engaged Research References.- Index.
