The Role of Music in Popular Social Movements: A Theory and Case Study of the Island State of Hawaii, USA

1985 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 153 ◽  
Author(s):  
George H. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Island State

scholarly journals Scaling Social Movements Through Social Media: The Case of Black Lives Matter

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630511880791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcia Mundt ◽  
Karen Ross ◽  
Charla M Burnett
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Black Lives Matter ◽  
Careful Management

In this article, we explore the potential role of social media in helping movements expand and/or strengthen themselves internally, processes we refer to as scaling up. Drawing on a case study of Black Lives Matter (BLM) that includes both analysis of public social media accounts and interviews with BLM groups, we highlight possibilities created by social media for building connections, mobilizing participants and tangible resources, coalition building, and amplifying alternative narratives. We also discuss challenges and risks associated with using social media as a platform for scaling up. Our analysis suggests that while benefits of social media use outweigh its risks, careful management of online media platforms is necessary to mitigate concrete, physical risks that social media can create for activists.

scholarly journals Batman, Pandaman and the Blind Man: A Case Study in Social Change Memes and Internet Censorship in China

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
An Xiao Mina
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Critique ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
Internet Censorship ◽  
Community Expression

While the internet has been examined as a utilitarian space for social movements, it also acts as a cultural space for personal and community expression about important social issues. While examining the particularities of the memetic form – often catchy humor, simple imagery, and remixing – the author examines meme culture as a vehicle for political and social critique in the context of China’s stringent web censorship and propaganda. She looks at social change memes that have arisen around internet censorship and in support of the blind lawyer activist Chen Guangcheng. First, she considers these memes as visual and creative practices that sidestep the mechanics of internet censorship in China. She then argues for the role of internet memes in challenging hegemonic media environments, and maintains that these actions should be considered important political acts in and of themselves.

Space in a Social Movement: A Case Study of Occupy Central in Hong Kong in 2014

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 434-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Wang ◽  
Yu Ye ◽  
Chris King-chi Chan
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Physical Nature ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Social ◽  
Occupy Central

Few studies have examined the role of space in social movements. The existing studies have primarily emphasized the physical nature of space (e.g., space as distance) and overlooked other attributes of space, such as space as the materialization of power relations and space as lived experience. In this article, we explore the role of space in social movements based on a case study of the Occupy Central in Hong Kong in 2014. During the protest, the organizers occupied and reconfigured the campuses and mobilized the participants both through and in space. We find that the campus space helped stimulate the feelings and emotions of the students and increased their enthusiasm to participate in the demonstration. The participants were then sent from the campuses (mobilization spaces) to the demonstration spaces where they occupied and transformed the urban public spaces into private spaces, thus leading to contention over and of space with the state powers. Our findings reveal that the campus space is an important resource that organizers can use for mobilization. We also find that the special features of a campus, including aggregation, networks, isolation, and homogeneity, can facilitate the formation of social movements. We argue that the three attributes of space interact with one another in facilitating the social movement. Thus, our findings suggest that space acts as not only the vessel of struggle but also a useful tool and a target of struggle.

Coloring social change: Humor, politics, and social movements

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-511
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Takovski
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Free Expression ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
On Line ◽  
Present Case Study

AbstractAs many social movements demonstrate, humor can serve as an important resource to resist oppression, fight social injustice and bring social change. Existing research has focused on humor’s role within social movements and its positive effects on the free expression of criticism, reduction of fear, communication, mobilization of participants and so on. However, the current literature on the activist use of humor also expresses some reservations about its political efficacy. While humor may steam off the energy necessary to counteract oppression and injustice, other tools of achieving the same political ends have been successfully deployed, primarily social media. Building upon this research, the present case study explores the 2016 Macedonian social movement called the Colorful Revolution. In particular, through the analysis of social media and activists’ reflection on the political use of humor, this case study examines how on-line humor contributed to the emergence and development of the movement. Factoring in activists’ opinions on the role of humor in society and especially in movements, while also paying attention to the role of social media, this case study tends to re-interpret the role of humor in the totality of the actions and circumstances underpinning the development of a social movement.

scholarly journals The coup that flopped: Facebook as a platform for emotional protest

First Monday ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaroslav Švelch ◽  
Václav Štětka
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Media Attention ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Movement Mobilization

This paper develops the idea that recent “networked” social movements are driven by emotions and provides an analysis of the role of emotions in movement mobilization. The case study focuses on the 2013 protests against a “coup” within the Czech Social Democratic Party. The protests had an immediate impact, resulting in a series of demonstrations, mainstream media attention and a successful overturning of the “coup”. The movement’s Facebook page served as an important catalyst for the protest. We argue that the movement’s success can be explained by its emphasis on perceived issues of morality. As people tend to gather on Facebook to express their feelings, social media become a primary conduit for emotional protest, which can be subsequently taken to the streets.

International Law and Human Rights: Diverging and Converging Histories

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean H. Quataert
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
International Law ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Non Linear

AbstractThis article explores ways to think about the historical intersections of international law and human rights visions and principles in a global context. It catalogues an intertwining of new historiographies, notably the recent convergence of research interests of historians and international lawyers that draws attention to non-linear analyses; the role of social movements in understanding developments in the law; and the importance of historical contexts for interpretation. It sketches one promising analytical framework to assess the dynamic interconnections of international law and human rights from the mid-nineteenth century through the formal creation of the human rights system under U.N. auspices between 1945 and 1949. It concludes with a case study of gender tensions in more recent human rights global politics to provide historically-specific examples of the new possibilities of bringing historical interpretations to the study of international law and human rights.

Listening at the local level: the role of radio in building community and trust

2019 ◽  
Vol 172 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-88
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Ellen Nettlefold
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Island State ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Building Community ◽  
A Site ◽  
Local Radio

This article examines the role of local radio in the contemporary media environment, specifically as a site for community engagement. Previous research finds journalistic organisations, at the local level, are critical to the functioning of society and more needs to be understood about their contemporary role amid destabilised and fragmented public discourse. In contrast to unrestrained and untrustworthy social media platforms, the mediation of local radio can assist in encouraging more inclusive, constructive, and respectful views from people from diverse sectors of society. Empirical research from a case study of a locally produced ABC Radio Community Conversation event exploring community tensions about built, heritage and environmental development in the Australian island state of Tasmania provides new insights into how the facilitation of local radio discussion can help build trust, public knowledge and enable greater participation. Listening and transparency from journalists about their practices is important, creating a space where people can connect in a civil and empathetic way not easily afforded by social media.

scholarly journals Paper, Commerce, and the Circulation of News: A Case-Study from Early Modern Malta

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 113-134
Author(s):  
William Zammit
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Main Channel ◽  
Political Perspective ◽  
Island State ◽  
Mediterranean Island ◽  
Island Community ◽  
To Receive

This contribution discusses the vital role of paper in the context of an early modern Mediterranean island-state. From a commerical, but also from a political perspective, the increased amount of seaborne communication not only characterised statehood but indeed made it possible. Paper-based communication was the main channel of formal but also of informal communication, with the latter comprising the exchange of news, rumours, and hearsay between the geographically isolated community and the rest of the Mediterranean and beyond. Such paper transactions comprised manuscript but also increasingly printed genres. The role of these and of other typologies of printed commercial literature went beyond a purely utilitarian one, as very often such forms included decorative iconographical representations asserting either political sovreignity or religious power. Paper-based communication enabled such an island community not simply to receive news but also to be a net distributer of it.

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