Sites of Protest: (Protest, Media and Culture)

Sites of Protest examines the global resurgence of protest movements and the ways in which they use public and private space - both physical and ‘immaterial’ - to secure attention for a wide variety of causes, cultural events and moral campaigns. The book takes its readers inside the mindset, not only of protestors and activists, but also of the state and corporate authorities that attempt to limit the impact of dissent. It also explains how media outlets frame the wide variety of international events and controversies that make up modern protest movements, and examines the myths that surround activism and the Internet. Has the landscape of dissent changed forever, or does the fact that protestors still rely on the symbolism associated with a particular ‘place’, mean that their interventions will remain localised and will fail to create a universal appeal?

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements / List of Illustrations / Introduction: Sites of Protest, Stuart Price and Ruth Sanz Sabido / Part I: Borders, States and Movements / 1. The ‘Borderless State’: ISIS, Hierarchy and Trans-spatial Politics, Stuart Price / 2. The Social Fabric of Resilience: How Movements Survive, Thrive, or Fade Away,Katharine Ainger / Part II: Culture, Community and Protest / 3. ‘Hunger for Bread and Horizons’: Protest Songs in Franco’s Spain, Ruth Sanz Sabido / 4. ArtUp! Creative Community Action to Reclaim Blighted City Spaces, Jeff Copus and Emilia Yang / 5. Naw, Naw, Aye: Activism and Alternative Media in the 2014 Scottish Referendum, Kirsten MacLeod / Part III: Direct action and ‘material’ struggle / 6. The Global Rush for Land, Alex Hines / 7. ‘Public Physical Practices’ in the Rendering of the Commons: Chilean Students in 2011, Jorge Saavedra Utman / 8. The British Anti-Windfarm and Anti-Fracking Movements: A Comparative Analysis, Matthew Ogilvie and Christopher Rootes / Part IV: Online Sites of Protest / 9. Online Change In An Offline World? Perceptions of Social Transformation Among Feminist Campaigners, Jessamy Gleeson / 10. Gypsy and Traveller Sites: Performance of Conflict and Protest, Jo Richardson / 11. ‘It’s Not Just 20 Cents’: How Social Networks Helped Mobilise Brazilians Against Injustice, Fernanda Amaral / Index / About the Contributors

About the Author :
Stuart Price is Professor of Media and Political Discourse at De Montfort University, Leicester. Ruth Sanz Sabido is Reader in Media and Social Inequality at Canterbury Christ Church University.

Review :
Sites of Protest is a vital contribution to understanding the politics of spectacle and protest. It looks into our past - and our present - with vigour, intelligence, and commitment. A must read. Questions about the creation and seizure of alternative spaces shape our understanding of protest. This timely book reflects upon such sites, and examines the way in which they emerge and challenge many aspects of the current social order. It constitutes an illuminating and highly recommended contribution to the study of sites as a 'foundational' element in the production of protest. For most people, at some point in life, protest becomes a matter of necessity and even survival. This eye-opening volume takes us across sites of protest across both the physical and virtual world, reminding us of the liveness of activism and the on-going democratisation of public space.