The Cultural Production Of Social Movements

The Cultural Production of Social Movements offers a theory of cultural practices, protest tactics, strategic planning and deliberation, and movement organizational structures: “ideological contention.” It is a theory of ideology “from below.” The Cultural Production of Social Movements shows how conflicts—both with external political forces and disagreements, dissensus, and the decision-making process internal to social movements—produce knowledge and meanings that, in turn, impact upon and change the practices that contribute to how social movements are structured and organized. The Cultural Production of Social Movements theorizes the relationship between consciously held superordinate ideas, the changing composition of progressive and oppositional social struggles, and the social worlds they hope to inhabit. Analyzing the Black Panther Party, specifically Kathleen Cleaver’s break with the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee and her contributions to the Party, Operaismo (or Workerism) in Italy and the relationship between shifting organizational strategies, inventive tactics, and novel and expansive ways to theorize class struggles, and the communal composition of “Worker-Recovered Enterprise Movements” in contemporary Argentina, this book shows how movement ideologies change and how meanings structure organizations, mobilizations, and futures. In The Cultural Production of Social Movements ideology is neither a static set of principles, nor is an unconscious orientation towards power and governance. Rather, it is the contentious, democratizing, and deliberative processes—which become realized as tactics in protests, struggles, defeats, and victories—that makes the relationship between movements, and what they “mean” conscious to its participants.

"Examines the role of cultural production within social justice struggles and within archives. Contains reproductions of political ephemera, including zines, banners, stickers, posters, and memes, alongside 15 interviews with artists and activists who have worked across a range of movements including: women's liberation, disability rights, housing justice, Black liberation, anti-war, Indigenous sovereignty, immigrant rights, and prisoner abolition, among others."--Provided by publisher.

A full-length analysis of social movements from a cultural perspective. This work considers the different approaches to culture, how movements are affected by their cultural environment and internal cultures within the movements themselves.

"This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. The so-called Arab Spring challenged conventional wisdom and certainties about the Arab world where its effects continue to be felt as well as in the diaspora. This book provides an original contribution to current social and cultural theory on Arab social movements by giving a fuller historical and critical treatment of contemporary artistic and cultural production from the region and beyond. Thematically structured and covering culture, media, politics, and literary studies, the book uses a range of theoretical material that engages readers in three key ways. First, it adopts a critical standpoint with respect to the term "Arab Spring," recognizing the multiple interpretations and varied geographical, historical, and political realities of the term. Second, its focus on carefully selected case studies - namely, Egypt, Tunis, Syria, and Yemen - adds depth to analysis of the cultural, literary and artistic dimensions that operate fluidly across the Arab world. Third, it presents a methodological case study for the growing community of researchers involved in interdisciplinary education. Together, the contributors to the book show how the interplay of politics, culture, and media across varied locations has and continues to shape emergent Arab social forms and a region on the cusp of historical and cultural change."

Praxis and Politics explores the knowledge arising from activist praxis and its significance for reimagining radical and democratic politics. It is based on five years of direct involvement in the Toronto-based Metro Network for Social Justice and their work in coalition building, campaign-organizing and 'economic and political literacy' work in the aftermath of the signing of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement. The book breaks new theoretical and methodological ground in social movement studies in drawing on a wide range of traditions including cultural studies, urban studies, political economy and feminism.

The Cultural Production of Social Movements offers a theory of cultural practices, protest tactics, strategic planning and deliberation, and movement organizational structures: “ideological contention.” It is a theory of ideology “from below.” The Cultural Production of Social Movements shows how conflicts—both with external political forces and disagreements, dissensus, and the decision-making process internal to social movements—produce knowledge and meanings that, in turn, impact upon and change the practices that contribute to how social movements are structured and organized. The Cultural Production of Social Movements theorizes the relationship between consciously held superordinate ideas, the changing composition of progressive and oppositional social struggles, and the social worlds they hope to inhabit. Analyzing the Black Panther Party, specifically Kathleen Cleaver’s break with the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee and her contributions to the Party, Operaismo (or Workerism) in Italy and the relationship between shifting organizational strategies, inventive tactics, and novel and expansive ways to theorize class struggles, and the communal composition of “Worker-Recovered Enterprise Movements” in contemporary Argentina, this book shows how movement ideologies change and how meanings structure organizations, mobilizations, and futures. In The Cultural Production of Social Movements ideology is neither a static set of principles, nor is an unconscious orientation towards power and governance. Rather, it is the contentious, democratizing, and deliberative processes—which become realized as tactics in protests, struggles, defeats, and victories—that makes the relationship between movements, and what they “mean” conscious to its participants.

Part I. Senses of belonging: explorations of transcultural spaces. Chapter I. Transculturation in a changing Arab world: engaging contexts in conversation / by Eid Mohamed ; Chapter II. Identity politics and digital space: Adel Abidin's Abidin travels: Welcome to Baghdad / By Jenna Ann Altomonte ; Chapter III. Transcultural Arab identities in the West: Canadian -- Arab youth navigating culture, identity, and belonging / by Bessma Momani and Melissa Finn ; Chapter IV. Reshaping social practice in post-Arab Spring Egypt: expression of identity and affiliation in new media / by Mohamed Hassan -- Part II. Migration and the challenges of subjectivation. Chapter V.Refugees as a hybridizing force in the Jordanian society / by Barkuzar Dubbati ; Chapter VI. Ontological citizenship: a realignment of rights and responsibilities between the individual and the state(s) in 21st century migration and transnationalism / by Saeed A. Khan -- Part III. Transcultural dimensions in contemporary Arab literature and culture. Chapter VII. Changing geography: transcultural Arab identity in the age of the EU / by Katie Logan ; Chapter VIII. The fractured music of Arab-Jewish friendships: Waguih Ghali's Beer in the snooker club and Ismaël Ferroukhi's Free men / by Caroline Rooney ; Chapter IX. Hédi Bouraoui: Transcultural sense of belonging / by Abderrahman Beggar ; Chapter X. Poetics of the virtual: technology and revolution in the poetry of Sghaier Ouled Ahmed / by Hager Ben Driss -- Part IV. Occupying interstices and the aesthetics of dissent. Chapter XI. Interstitial space of the art of protest / by Hamid Dabashi ; Chapter XII. The chaos of a scream: a critical reading of Houthis' Sarkha in Yemen / by Waleed F. Mahdi.

A full-length analysis of social movements from a cultural perspective. This work considers the different approaches to culture, how movements are affected by their cultural environment and internal cultures within the movements themselves.