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2018 | Buch

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Networks, Movements and Technopolitics in Latin America

Critical Analysis and Current Challenges

herausgegeben von: Francisco Sierra Caballero, Tommaso Gravante

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Global Transformations in Media and Communication Research

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This edited collection presents original and compelling research about contemporary experiences of Latin American movements and politics in several countries. The book proposes a theoretical framework that conceptualises different mediation processes that emerge between cyberdemocracy and the emancipation practices of new social movements. Additionally, this volume presents some Latin American practices and experiences that are - autonomously and by using self-management - creating other identities and social spaces on the margins of and against the neoliberal system through the use of digital technology. This book will be of great interest to scholars of media and social movements studies as well as of contemporary politics.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction

Abstract

Since the uprising of the indigenous communities in Chiapas in 1994, the dispute over codes, information and knowledge has proven to be central to current sociocultural mediation practices following in the wake of the digital revolution. Therefore, technopolitics represents a field of research focusing on the models that are assumed by this battle over meaning, how these models are defined by the appropriation and use of new digital tools of representation—on-line and off-line—and, among other things, how digital media form part of an integrated process of providing new codes and new meanings for the public and social spheres in Latin America. These are only some of the issues that have been broached here in this book with an eye to imparting practical knowledge of the connections between social movements and media technologies, and their complexity.

Francisco Sierra Caballero, Tommaso Gravante

Technopolitics: A Theoretical Framework

Frontmatter

Chapter 2. Digital Media Practices and Social Movements. A Theoretical Framework from Latin America

Abstract

Starting with the alternative digital media experiences that have taken place in the last two decades in Latin America, this chapter proposes a theoretical and methodological framework inspired by the critical tradition of participatory communication for social change as it developed in Latin America. The chapter is structured as follows. Firstly, we underline the latest framework of collective action that has characterized the new cycle of struggles in Latin America. Secondly, we delineate our proposal, which will consider three pivotal aspects of the process of appropriating and using digital media. Afterwards, we explore how the bonds that are formed between the media and the protagonists reflect a “new” community of reference distinguished by horizontal processes. Finally, we analyse how the net activism practice leads the participating people to experience a process of empowerment.

Francisco Sierra Caballero, Tommaso Gravante

Chapter 3. Tracing the Roots of Technopolitics: Towards a North-South Dialogue

Abstract

The concept of technopolitics has been increasingly employed to interpret the contemporary uses of communication technologies by social movements and civil society organizations. This chapter tackles the historical and theoretical roots of the notion, by critically examining contributions from different disciplines, regions and strands of literature. First, the chapter outlines the use of technopolitics within technology transfer and scientific innovation, and charts its adoption in studies regarding media and the political sphere. Then, it explores its rediscovery and application at the intersection between the appropriations of Spanish activists and academics, and scrutinizes its extension to Latin America. Next, it examines five key potentialities of the concept, as well as its connections with other recent theorizations, especially derived from Anglo-Saxon scholarship. The chapter concludes by proposing further dialogue between Northern and Southern research communities, as a way to generate more nuanced understandings of everyday activist practices, action research, and socio-political change.

Emiliano Treré, Alejandro Barranquero Carretero

Chapter 4. E-Democracy. Ideal vs Real, Exclusion vs Inclusion

Abstract

This article contains research findings of the largest (n = 2073) empirical research to date on the structures and the functions of political parties web sites from a political social and communication studies perspective. The methodology used for this research is novel in this research arena and is based on an information architecture approach. The tools used to carry out the analysis are Version 3.5 build 343 of WebLinkValidator and spss. This research is based on the early stages of the political web (1995–2005) and covers a context which pre-dates the emergence of modern social media. We argue however that this work remains scientifically relevant for two main reasons. One is methodological: no other comparable empirical research covering the entire known universe of online political parties activities has been carried out after 2005. The second argument concerns theories on political inclusion worldwide: this research has allowed to spot in 2005 a negative trend towards political exclusion which—as three consecutive Pew Research Centers reports proved in 2008, 2010 and 2016—got stronger, rather than weaker, in parallel to the emergence of social media.

Andrea Ricci, Jan Servaes

Chapter 5. Technopolitics in the Age of Big Data

Abstract

‘Big data’ offer novel opportunities for civic engagement and foster the emergence of data activism, a form of technopolitics from the ground-up that assumes people’s active engagement with data for empowerment. Proactive data activism, in particular, sees citizens taking advantage of the possibilities offered by data for advocacy and social change. This chapter combines social movement studies and media studies to analyze the emergence of proactive data activism in the Latin American continent. Analyzing the case of InfoAmazonia—a project blending citizen participation and data analysis to generate news about the endangered Amazon region—this chapter adds to our understanding of technopolitics as a way to reinterpret reality, empower people, facilitate collective action, and challenge the establish social norms embedded in our understanding of technology and social change. Furthermore, it contributes to the understanding of how data can restructure social reality, and in particular civil society action.

Stefania Milan, Miren Gutierrez

Dissident Technopolitics Practices in Latin America: Critical Analysis and Current Challenges

Frontmatter

Chapter 6. The Brazilian Protest Wave and Digital Media: Issues and Consequences of the “Jornadas de Junho” and Dilma Rousseff’s Impeachment Process

Abstract

The protests of June 2013 were the biggest Brazil experienced since the country’s redemocratization process during the 80s/90s. One year later, Brazil experienced one of its closest presidential election which resulted in the re-election of Dilma Rousseff. But the social mobilization did not cease—even though it changed significantly—and the development of this social pressure led to the president’s impeachment on October 2016. What interests us in this paper is the heavy use of digital communication tools by the movement and its consequences. We focus on this element not only because it is present in many of the recent protests, but also because we believe it has a crucial role in the movements’ formation and development. Our main goal here is to produce a panoramic view of those movements’ main characteristics in relationship with other analogous and contemporary movements in the international landscape, as well as analytically describe the shaping of a complex digital media ecosystem of the protests.

Nina Santos

Chapter 7. Social Networks, Cyberdemocracy and Social Conflict in Colombia

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Facebook, particularly 6 groups or pages that address issues related to the Havana talks. The groups and pages were selected during the week of June 13–18, 2016, according to the qualitative representation that each possessed and their positions for or against the peace process. Exploratory data indicate an environment that is characterized by the appropriation of the current digital scenarios by active minorities Moscovici (in: Moscovici, Mugny, and Pérez (eds) La influencia social inconsciente. Estudios de psicología social experimental, Anthropos, Barcelona, 1991), i.e., groups who use Facebook to discredit their political opponents with respect to the Havana talks. Such a debate may appear to be evidence of political participation characterized by interaction and dialogue between actors with opposing political views. However, in fact, such dialogue is not being promoted. Rather, the analysed Facebook groups and pages reinforce a prejudicial and segregated scenario, as discussed by authors such as Gruzd and Roy (Policy & Internet 6:28–45, 2014).

Elias Said-Hung, David Luquetta-Cediel

Chapter 8. Communication in Movement and Techno-Political Media Networks: the case of Mexico

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the techno-political media networks created by activists, grassroots groups, alternative media, and non-governmental organizations in the Mexican context. The basic precept is that social actors have decided to exercise their right to communicate and therefore to search, receive, and broadcast information, creating media spaces on websites and social media platforms, and in doing so, fostering information plurality and the visibility of alternative agendas in cyberspace. As a case study, this article analyzes the Mexican context by presenting visualizations with a Social Network Analysis (SNA) perspective. The main finding is that techno-political media networks in Mexico have a strong internode connection with professional media and international organizations, which is a sign of both an inter-media and a post-national scenario. The visualizations were useful making sense of the complexity of actors, communities and topics intertwined in the Mexican digital ecosystem of social struggles.

César Augusto Rodríguez Cano

Chapter 9. #CompartirNoEsDelito: Creating Counter-Hegemonic Spaces Online for Alternative Production and Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge

Abstract

Students from the Global South face structural constraints in terms of access because of the production and diffusion models of scientific knowledge. Against this background, they engage in resistance practices in order to address the lack of access to knowledge. Based on the analysis of the Diego Gómez case in Colombia, the article explores how transnational online mobilization emerge from everyday practices of resistance and how a counter-hegemonic discourse on higher education and access to knowledge can be created in order to challenge the dominant neoliberal model. Instead of an abstract campaign defined in highly political terms, the Diego Gómez case illustrates a mobilization from below based on practical needs.

Jean-Marie Chenou, Rodulfo Armando Castiblanco Carrasco

Chapter 10. #OcupaEscola: Media Activism and the Movement for Public Education in Brazil

Abstract

This article draws a big picture of the social movement that hit Brazil in 2015 and 2016 when hundreds of public schools were occupied by students in opposition to State and National levels educational reforms. Following same trend seen on other popular demonstrations in the 2000s, the Brazilian Ocupa Escola movement was geographically and chronologically distributed though not necessarily fragmented. In this chapter, the authors analyse the movement’s presence on Facebook and Youtube with a cross-method approach which correlates video-activism narratives and a network analysis. More than finding answers to explain the impressive reach of the Ocupa Escola movement in Brazil, this chapter aims at exploring methods to investigate this kind of social phenomena by mixing classical concepts on the Social Movements Theory, Communications Studies, digital methods and the rising idea of Technopolitics.

Ana Lúcia Nunes de Sousa, Marcela Canavarro

Backmatter

Titel: Networks, Movements and Technopolitics in Latin America
herausgegeben von: Francisco Sierra Caballero
Tommaso Gravante
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-65560-4
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-65559-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65560-4