A genealogy of communicative affordances and activist self-mediation practices

Abstract

In this chapter, the focus is on the various ways in which activists across time and space have appropriated traditional mediaprint cultures, audio and broadcastingas well as telecommunication and the internet to develop resistance practices. In doing so, I will present a historical dimension and discuss the various ways in which counter-cultures and activists have shaped information and communication technologies into tools of resistance to suit their particular needs. As such, a conceptual connection is made between the self-mediation practices of activists, communicative affordances and the mediation opportunity structure. Across various media and communication technologies, a set of affordances which enable activist mediation practices are identified. These affordances are situated at the level of 1) Temporalitylinked to the affordances of asynchronous and real-time communicative practices; 2) Spatialityrelated to the affordance of media and communication technologies to collapse distance, as well as enable both private and public communicative practices; and 3) Resistanceimplicating the affordance to circumvent state-imposed limitations and to hack and shape technologies. It is concluded that while the Empire always strikes back, new affordances will be discovered, and new creative workarounds imagined, rejuvenating old practices as well as constituting new ones. IntroductionMany scholars, including many contributors to this edited collection, have in recent years made valuable contributions to build conceptual bridges between media and communication studies and social movement studies. In doing so, the central role of media, of communication tools, and of self-mediation practices in the context of contentious politics has been foregrounded and better theorized. Media and communication are deemed to be crucial to assert a collective identity and circulate movement discourses, either independently or through the mainstream media, but they are equally important in terms of mobilizing efforts for direct actions and organising a movement.In this chapter, I will provide a historical overview of the various ways in which activists and social movements have appropriated, used, and above all shaped media and communication technologies to fit a set of self-mediation practices in support of their broader movement goals. At the same time, we can also observe persistent attempts by the powers that be to limit and constrain the emancipatory potentials of media and communication technologies to act as tools of resistance.

The mediated circulation of the United Kingdom’s YouthStrike4Climate movement’s discourses and actions

“…As Foucault (1993) also pointed out, however, Technologies of the Self are deeply integrated with Technologies of Domination (p. 203). Applied to the context of contentious politics, States and corporations have consistently tried to limit, restrict, and/or regulate the use of media and communication technologies, be it print, telecommunication, broadcasting and more recently the Internet, especially when it concerns their use to disrupt and contest the status quo (Cammaerts, 2019; Downing et al, 2001). This has led to a dynamic interplay between activists and the powers that be when it comes to control over the means of communication, as well as access to communication infrastructures and circumvention of surveillance.…”

El discurso mediático en las disputas por el aborto en México a nivel subnacional: la mediación movimiento-contramovimiento

“…El discurso mediático y la mediación movimientocontramovimiento: bases teórico-metodológicas Desde sus orígenes, la relación entre movimientos sociales y medios de comunicación masiva ha sido central (Cammaerts, 2019;Tarrow, 2004;Tilly y Wood, 2010). Para los movimientos sociales los medios de comunicación pueden ayudar a brindar legitimidad o visibilidad a sus causas, abriendo la posibilidad de hacer circular temas acerca de los que se dirigen sus demandas y que de otra forma no entrarían dentro de las agendas de discusión pública, dadas las resistencias de actores poderosos.…”

Book Review - Citizen Media and Practice: Currents, Connections, Challenges

“…In Chapter 5, Bart Cammaerts (2020) develops a detailed genealogy of the various ways in which activists have used traditional media, telecommunications and digital media to achieve their social movement goals -from print and postal services to telecommunication, radio broadcasting and the internet. Cammaerts (2020) argues that each media and communication technology has provided activists with various mediation practices that meet their needs, and we should not forget the capabilities of the old technology because of the emergence of new ones, as "the Empire always strikes back" (p. 110). In Chapter 6, by bringing media practice and media archaeology together, Anne Kaun's combined approach (2020) allows us to "excavate how media technologies function in the context of political participation and mobilization" (p.…”