Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"Stefania Milan's study of emancipatory media activism represents a distillation of her considerable research into its many forms over a number of years and in a number of countries, inflected by her own experience as an information activist. She gives full weight to the critical gender dimension of the subject, to a spectrum of technology uses, and the intersections with vital policy issues. Hers is a very substantive contribution to debate around social movement media." - John D.H. Downing, Editor, Sage Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
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
About the Author
Stefania Milan is curious about social movements and activism, the interplay between technologies and society, and the politics of code. She is Assistant Professor at Tilburg University, and a fellow at the Citizen Lab, University of Toronto. Italian by birth, world traveller by design, she is currently based in Amsterdam.
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
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