[Commlist] Call for Chapters, Labor News and Trade Union Media

Call for Chapters, Labor News and Trade Union Media


Book Title: Raising Class Consciousness: Labor News and Communicating 
Worker Power

Edited by: Gino Canella (Emerson College)

Deadline for abstracts: June 30, 2023 (Google Doc: bit.ly/3NMqpAK 
<http://bit.ly/3NMqpAK>)

Trade unions have used newspapers, film, and radio for generations to 
organize workers, influence public opinion, and conduct political 
education. In recent years, though, digital technologies and online 
platforms have altered the political culture of unions—magnifying a 
long-standing tension within the labor movement: the reformist versus 
revolutionary approaches to labor organizing. Digital media disrupt 
trade unions’ hierarchical structures and one-way communication 
strategies, allowing workers to express themselves in their own voice. 
On the other hand, social media prioritize individual personalities and 
symbolic power at the expense of relationship building and deep 
organizing. And research on gig workers’ use of digital media to 
organize unions revealed another contradiction with social media: while 
the internet helped workers connect, these connections were often 
fragmented by geographic location and industry.

Despite these issues, celebratory claims about the power of technology 
persist. Regarding current unionization efforts in the US, The 
Washington Post stated that technology is “powering the picket line”. 
The Guardian dubbed the uptick in labor activism “Strike 2.0”. These 
authors, and those that share their optimism about digital media, make 
two broad claims: first, social media help people realize their 
subjectivity and exert their agency; and second, social media provide 
organizers platforms on which to publicize their campaigns to global 
audiences, thus enhancing the campaign’s visibility and expanding the 
movement’s pool of supporters.

This edited volume aims to complicate these views and examine the 
communication and media strategies of trade unions in the 21st 
century—with an emphasis on how new forms of communication are altering 
the structure and composition of the labor movement. Rather than a 
techno-deterministic or media-centric approach, we view radical 
alternative media as sociotechnical practices that occur within specific 
historical and political economic contexts. The book seeks to include 
theoretical analyses and essays from practitioners. We are seeking 
authors from various fields (communication, media studies, sociology, 
history, economics) and professional backgrounds (labor/community 
organizers, communication specialists, scholars, and journalists).

Chapters could address the following topics (but this is not an 
exhaustive list):

- Trade union newspapers
- Strike papers
- Historical perspectives (e.g., newsletters, flyers, film, radio)
- The transition from an analog to a digital labor press
- Case studies (e.g., Starbucks, Amazon, Apple, Trader Joe’s, etc.)
- The use of media to link international labor movements
- The implications of social media for organizing workers
- Various formats for labor news (e.g., video, audio, podcasts, text, etc.)
- The labor beat
- The relationship between labor unions and journalists
- Coverage of labor unions in alternative and mainstream press

Please send a 500-word abstract and short author bio (100 words) to Gino 
Canella, (gino_canella /at/ emerson.edu) <mailto:(gino_canella /at/ emerson.edu)>, by 
June 30, 2023. No payment from authors will be required at any time.

Anticipated Timeline:
July 14, 2023: Notifications of acceptance sent to authors.
October 15, 2023: Chapters due (2,000-3,000 words for essays; 
5,000-6,000 words for research papers).
November 2023-January 2024: Peer review and editing.
March 1, 2024: Final chapters due.
---------------
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/ commlist.org)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------