[Commlist] call for book chapters: women and activism in the digital age

Call for Chapters

/Women and Activism in the Digital Age /(temporary name, edited collection)

Edited byCarmit Wiesslitz, PhD

Deadline for Abstracts: March 31, 2020

The#MeToo movement has been mentioned in academic discourse as an 
effective online campaign that became widely spread and was covered 
extensively in the news media worldwide. When referring to this 
campaign, Internet researchers highlight the powerful role of social 
media platforms in activism in the digital age and many scholars talk 
about this campaign in this context. However, there is a very limited 
discourse about the fact that women are the leading figures behind this 
successful campaign or about their distinctive use of and related 
experience in the online public sphere. In fact, academic discourse has 
rarely put forward the topic of women activists and their use of social 
media. Why is it so important to place this issue at the focus of 
research? First of all, because the field of politics and 
extra-parliamentary politics is known as an extremely 
male-oriented/dominated sphere in which women are forced to struggle to 
successfully promote themselves and their agendas. Secondly, women’s 
organizations have unique features, specifically related to the way they 
run their organizations and operations, which often are more democratic 
and egalitarian. Thirdly, saliency and reliable representation in public 
discourse is a challenge, not only for women’s groups but also for all 
minority groups. The Internet may constitute an alternative, possibly 
more egalitarian, communications platform.

This leads us to the following questions; Does the Internet provides 
women activists with a new platform to voice their agenda? Is the 
Internet perceived and used as a tool of empowerment? The contribution 
of research on these questions is related not only to the Internet and 
new digital platforms, but also to its focus on women, an important 
minority group, and its acknowledgement of women’s activism in the 
virtual world.

This collection will hopefully open a window into the role and status of 
women’s groups that aspire to join forces to organize collective action 
using the Internet, and furthermore to gain an understanding of the 
discourse that women create on social media and other digital platforms. 
Hence, this book will present various case studies of women from around 
the world who use the Internet to facilitate social change on topics, 
including, but not limited to, the following:

- Women’s groups and social change organizations and their on-going online
operations.

- Case studies of ad hoc campaigns and spontaneous viral collective 
action, such as
the #MeToocampaign.

- Distinct dimensions of Internet activism, from organizing 
offline/online protests and
mobilizing for collective action, to producing and distributing memes, 
videos, and
podcasts.

- The Internet as a safe space: women’s discourse and online 
conversations of
activists or non-activists (features, uses, and perceptions of value)

The book is intended to be multidisciplinary volume that embraces a 
broad range of disciplinary perspectives, including, but not limited to, 
media studies, civil society and democracy, social movements, 
alternative media, feminisms, Marxism/neo-Marxism, globalization, 
structural/post-structural, and others. Furthermore, this book may offer 
empirical multidisciplinary perspectives and a wide array of 
methodologies for researching digital activism using various online 
platforms and apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, What's 
Up App, and others.

Interested authors should send an abstract of 500 words, 3-5 references, 
and an up-to-date bio to Carmit Wiesslitz ((carmitw /at/ hac.ac.il)) no later 
than _March31, 2020,_with “Women and activism in the digital age” in the 
subject line.

Acceptance notices will be sent by May 31, 2020

Full papers of 6,000 to 8,000 words (including all references) will be 
due November 30, 2020.

I intend to submit a proposal to Palgrave Macmillan (which already 
expressed its initial interest in this project and is awaiting the 
submission of a full proposal) after I have a confirmed table of 
contents and list of contributing authors.

About the editor: Carmit Wiesslitz, PhD,is the author of Internet 
Democracy and Social Change: The Case of Israel 
<https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498539784/Internet-Democracy-and-Social-Change-The-Case-of-Israel>//(2019), 
published by Lexington Books. Her research areas include civil society, 
democracy and the Internet, media and social change, alternative media, 
women's organizations and new media. She is a lecturer in the Department 
of Politics and Communications at Hadassah Academic College, Israel.

---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------