Re/Marks on Power - How Annotation Inscribes History, Literacy, and Justice

An interdisciplinary exploration of annotation that shows how this participatory act marks public memory, struggles for justice, and social change.


Annotation—the seemingly simple act of marking a text—is often diminished as a marginal practice. It is prohibited in physical objects and considered irrelevant to social and political concerns. But what if annotation were reimagined as a critical and civic literacy that can inscribe public memory, struggles for justice, and social change? In
With a series of vivid and wide-ranging cases, Kalir describes how groups of annotators make public re/marks of resistance and creativity, often with simple tools and accessible methods. These annotations alter familiar texts, oppose hateful ideology, and broadcast solidarity and social activism. Among the book’s fresh reads of annotation are considerations of how Harriet Tubman’s legacy is remembered and honored, how the US-Mexico border was defined and is restoried, how problematic public monuments are contested and reimagined, and how books featuring LGBTQIA+ topics are classified, censored, and celebrated.

Product details

• Authors: Remi Kalir, Remi H Kalir, Remi H. Kalir
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 15.04.2025
• EAN: 9780262551038
• ISBN: 978-0-262-55103-8
• No. of pages: 190
• Dimensions: 154 mm x 229 mm x 13 mm
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Dictionaries, reference works > Dictionaries, encyclopaedias; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Communication Studies, LITERARY CRITICISM / Books & Reading, Communication Studies, Encyclopaedias & Reference Works