The one-volume encyclopedia will include around 250 essays on the varied experiences of social movement media across the planet over the 20th and 21st centuries. It will also contain thematic essays on selected issues such as human rights media, indigenous people's media, and environmentalist media, and on key concepts widely used in the field-e.g. 'alternative media, ' 'citizens' media, ' 'community media, ' and 'social movement media.' The encyclopedia engages with all communication media: broadcasting, print, cinema, the Internet, popular song, street theatre, graffiti, and dance. Some entries address social movement media of the extreme right. The entries in the encyclopedia are designed to be relatively short, providing clear, accessible, and current information on a topic.
Industry Reviews
"This is a comprehensive, illuminating, and inspiring work of reference. By focusing on media use by social movements across the globe, John Downing has collected an extraordinarily rich and eclectic range of contributions that read like an act of generous solidarity as well as of scrupulous scholarship." -- Tony Dowmunt "This encyclopedia is a valuable contribution to one of the fastest-growing areas in communication studies. It is an informative, engaging, and up-to-date compendium of articles on concepts, campaigns, projects, and groups around the world, written by a balanced range of practitioners, activists, and established and emerging scholars." -- Robert (Bob) Hackett "This encyclopedia will be of use to students, scholars, and activists wanting understanding, historical precedents, and international comparison of experimental and dissident media organizations and projects." -- Patricia (Pat) Aufderheide "The visions of and commitments to another world are everywhere out there, being pursued through a variety of social movement media. This valuable collection of international experiences proves it. It is a must-have book for activists and researchers engaged with and communicating for social change." -- Thomas Tufte "Interpreting media and communication from the point of view of social movements allows us tounderstand the constructive and transformative potential that communities have in today's global society. The Latin American treasury of community media experience is represented, and much more besides." -- Amparo Cadavid Bringe "Debates may swirl about whether recent uprisings in the Middle East and Africa really owe their origins to Facebook or Twitter, but even die-hard Luddites must admit that social media had some role in facilitating the revolutions. Downing's fascinating work provides background to this subversive phenomenon over time and across the world in articles such as 'Alternative Comics (United States),' 'Angry Buddhist Monk Phenomenon (Southeast Asia),' 'Gay Press (Canada, United Kingdom, United States),' and 'Social Democratic Media to 1914.'" -- Henrietta Thornton-Verma * School Library Journal * "This encyclopedia offers an internationalized glimpse of the burgeoning field of communications as practiced in social activism around the planet... Highly Recommended." -- tD. A. Schmitt * Choice *
