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This is an entirely new edition of the author's 1984 study (originally published by South End Press) of radical media and movements. The first and second sections are original to this new edition. The first section explores social and cultural theory in order to argue that radical media should be a central part of our understanding of media in history. The second section weaves an historical and international tapestry of radical media to illustrate their centrality and diversity, from dance and graffiti to video and the internet and from satirical prints and street theatre to culture-jamming, subversive song, performance art and underground radio. The section also includes consideration of ultra-rightist media as a key contrast case. The book's third section provides detailed case studies of the anti-fascist media explosion of 1974-75 in Portugal, Italy's long-running radical media, radio and access video in the USA, and illegal media in the dissolution of the former Soviet bloc dictatorships.
List of contents
PART ONE: CONCEPTS - RADICAL MEDIA INTERSECT MEDIA THEORY
Popular Culture, `Audiences¿ and Radical Media
Power, Hegemony, Resistance
Social Movements, the Public Sphere, Networks
Community, Democracy, Dialogue and Radical Media
Art, Aesthetics, Radical Media, Communication
Radical Media Organization
Two Models
Religion, Ethnicity, the International Dimension
Repressive Radical Media
PART TWO: RADICAL MEDIA TAPESTRY: COMMUNICATIVE REBELLION IN HISTORY AND GLOBALLY
Public Speech, Dance, Jokes and Song
Graffiti and Dress
Popular Theatre, Street Theatre, Performance Art and Culture Jamming
The Press
`Mind Bombs¿
Woodcuts, Satirical Prints, Flyers, Photomontage, Posters, Murals
Radio
Film and Video
The Internet
PART THREE: EXTENDED CASE STUDIES
The Portuguese Explosion
The Collapse of Dictatorship and Colonialism, 1974 - 75
Italy
Three Decades of Radical Media
Access Television and Grassroots Political Communication in the United States
KPFA, Berkeley and Free Radio Berkeley
Samizdat in the Former Soviet Bloc
A Hexagon by Way of a Conclusion
About the author
John Downing is Professor in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the Univeristy of Texas, Austin. He is a co-editor of Questioning the Media (1990) and has contributed to the journals Media, Culture & Society and Discourse & Society
Summary
This is an entirely new edition of the author's 1984 study (originally published by South End Press) of radical media and movements. The first and second sections are original to this new edition. The first section explores social and cultural theory in order to argue that radical media should be a central part of our understanding of media in history. The second section weaves an historical and international tapestry of radical media to illustrate their centrality and diversity, from dance and graffiti to video and the internet and from satirical prints and street theatre to culture-jamming, subversive song, performance art and underground radio. The section also includes consideration of ultra-rightist media as a key contrast case. The book's third section provides detailed case studies of the anti-fascist media explosion of 1974-75 in Portugal, Italy's long-running radical media, radio and access video in the USA, and illegal media in the dissolution of the former Soviet bloc dictatorships.
