[ecrea] Critical Perspectives on Social Media and Protest

New book: “Critical Perspectives on Social Media and Protest: Between
Control and Emancipation”
Editors: Lina Dencik & Oliver Leistert
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
http://www.rowmaninternational.com/books/critical-perspectives-on-social-media-and-protest

This book critically interrogates the relationship between social media
and protest from an interdisciplinary perspective, examining the
multiple ways in which we need to politicize and contextualise
commercial social media platforms, in particular with regards to their
use for the purposes of anti-systemic and progressive protest movements.

Commercial social media platforms have become integral to contemporary
forms of protests. They are intensely used by advocacy groups,
non-governmental organisations, social movements and other political
actors who increasingly integrate social media platforms into broader
practices of organizing and campaigning. But, aside from the many
advantages of extensive mobilization opportunities at low cost, what are
the implications of social media corporations being involved in these
grassroots movements? This book takes a much-needed critical approach to
the relationship between social media and protest. Highlighting key
issues and concerns in contemporary forms of social media activism,
including questions of censorship, surveillance, individualism, and
temporality, the book combines contributions from some of the most
active scholars in the field today. Advancing both conceptual and
empirical work on social media and protest, and with a range of
different angles, the book provides a fresh and challenging outlook on a
very topical debate.

“At last, a collection on social media and protest that is genuinely
critical, spanning both the nature of the technological tools the
political-economic environment they are part of, the organisational
responses these formations then lend themselves to and the political
consequences they reap. Rich in detail, broad in remit, interrogatory by
design this will be my ‘turn to’ book on this subject for years to come.”
- Natalie Fenton, Professor of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths
University of London

“Refusing simple explanations and traversing protest movements from
around the globe, this collection is essential reading for academics and
activists alike. The volume interrogates the power and systemic
shortcomings of corporate-based social media as deployed during moments
of revolution, rupture, and dissent. Operating simultaneously as an
authoritative force that regiments social relations and a fetishistic
object that congeals desires, these media are shot through with a series
of contradictions.”
- Gabriella Coleman, Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological
Literacy Department of Art History & Communication Studies, McGill
University

“This collection provides a much-needed antidote to the ready equation
of social media and political empowerment. It counters the cyber-hype
with a truly critical collection of readings that explore the political
limits and potentials of social media. This is a crucial volume for
anyone interested in the key political question of our time: the
relationship between media technology and activism.”
- Mark Andrejevic, Associate Professor of Media Studies, Pomona College

Contents:
1. Promise and Practice in Studies of Social Media and Movements,
Sebastian Haunss

Part I: Algorithmic Control and Visibility / 2. The Revolution Will Not
Be Liked: On the Systemic Constraints of Corporate Social Media
Platforms for Protests, Oliver Leistert / 3. Mobilizing in Times of
Social Media: From a Politics of Identity to a Politics of Visibility,
Stefania Milan

Part II: Temporal Alienation and Redefining Spaces / 4. Social Media,
Immediacy and the Time for Democracy: Critical Reflections on Social
Media as ‘Temporalising Practices’, Veronica Barassi / 5. “This Space
Belongs to Us!”: Protest Spaces in Times of Accelerating Capitalism,
Anne Kaun

Part III: Surveillance, Censorship and Political Economy / 6. Social
Media Censorship, Privatised Regulation, and New Restrictions to Protest
and Dissent, Arne Hintz / 7. Social Media Protest in Context:
Surveillance, Information Management, and Neoliberal Governance in
Canada, Joanna Redden / 8. Pre-empting Dissent: From Participatory
Policing to Collaborative Filmmaking, Greg Elmer

Part IV: Dissent and Fragmentation From Within / 9. The Struggle Within:
Discord, Conflict and Paranoia in Social Media Protest, Emiliano Treré /
10. Social Media and the 2013 Protests in Brazil: The Contradictory
Nature of Political Mobilization in the Digital Era, Mauro P. Porto and
João Brant

Part V: Myths and Organisational Trajectories / 11. Social Media and the
‘New Authenticity’ of Protest, Lina Dencik / 12. Network Cultures and
the Architecture of Decision, Geert Lovink and Ned Rossiter

--
Dr Lina Dencik
Lecturer / Director MA Journalism, Media and Communication
School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University
Bute Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NB
Email: (DencikL /at/ cardiff.ac.uk) <mailto:(DencikL /at/ cardiff.ac.uk)>, Tel: +44
(0)29 208 75461
Twitter: @LinaDencik

Fellow, Center for Media, Data and Society, Central European University
Co-I, Digital Citizenship and Surveillance Society, www.dcssproject.net
<http://www.dcssproject.net/>



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