MACMILLAN Digital Activism, Community Media, and Sustainable Communication in Latin America

Review “In Digital Activism, Community Media, and Sustainable Communication in Latin America, Martens, Venega and Sharupi Tapuy address a major gap in the literature ― namely the community-based challenges to existing configurations of technology. Foregrounding indigenous activism and networks across the Americas, this volume makes an unprecedented contribution to our understanding of the ongoing agency of the populations that preceded the colonial onslaught. Activists and scholars in this book resoundingly address Luis Ramiro Beltrán’s still urgent question: who are you neutral against? Digital and legacy technologies are not neutral, and the contributors to this volume take one more step toward decolonizing so-called International Communications by decentering the Eurocentric bulk of research and inserting the voices and projects of the Mapuche, Achuar, and Mixteca in a variety of locations in Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Mexico, and Chile. This is a must read in Communications Scholarship.” (Angharad N. Valdivia, Research Professor, Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana) Product Description This book brings together academic and activist work on community media, feminist, decolonial, and Indigenous perspectives to digital activism, including Free and Open Communication in Latin America. The essays in this collection speak to major changes over the past decade that are reshaping digital media uses and practices. The case studies presented here question many commonly held assumptions around global media ownership, sustainability, and access relevant to countries beyond Latin American contexts. From the Back Cover This book brings together academic and activist work on community media, feminist, decolonial, and Indigenous perspectives to digital activism, including Free and Open Communication in Latin America. The essays in this collection speak to major changes over the past decade that are reshaping digital media uses and practices. The case studies presented here question many commonly held assumptions around global media ownership, sustainability, and access relevant to countries beyond Latin American contexts. Cheryl Martens PhD is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Liberal Arts program at Universidad San Francisco de Quito. Her research and publications concentrate on the sociology and political economy of communication, media policy, and digital activism in South America. Cristina Venegas PhD is Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on the politics, histories, and formations of global and transnational media, revolutionary media cultures, media historiography, and film festivals with an emphasis on Latin America. Etsa Franklin Sharupi Tapuy is an Amazonian leader of Quijos and Shuar heritage. He is currently the Communication Advisor for the Quijos Nationality (NAOQUI), and a digital journalist (lancero digital) in CONFENIAE's Amazonian community press. As a researcher and Quijos wankiri and Shuar juakmaru (sage leader), he has been a guest lecturer at international conferences in Europe and throughout the Americas, specializing in Quijos history and the anti-colonial hero and leader, Jumandi. He is currently completing a degree in Anthropology at Saliciana University in Ecuador. About the Author Cheryl Martens PhD is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Liberal Arts program at Universidad San Francisco de Quito. Her research and publications concentrate on the sociology and political economy of communication, media policy, and digital activism in South America. Cristina Venegas PhD is Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on the politics, histories, and formations of global and transnational media, revolutionary media cultures, media historiography, and film festivals with an emphasis on Latin America. Etsa Franklin