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Alternative Media in Canada

Alternative Media in Canada

Edited by Kirsten Kozolanka, Patricia Mazepa and David Skinner

Published by: University of British Columbia Press

Imprint: UBC Press

348 Pages, 152.00 × 229.00 mm

Paperback
9780774821650
Published: January 2013

£24.99

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Hardcover
9780774821643
Published: April 2012

£79.00

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Description
Contents
Authors
Praise

Alternative media hold the promise of building public awareness and action against the constraints and limitations of media conglomeration and cutbacks to public broadcasting. These media are becoming key venues for community expression and political debate, but what is it that makes them alternative?

The contributors to this path-breaking volume answer this question by examining the evolution of various kinds of alternative media – including indigenous, anarchist, ethnic, and feminist media – against the backdrop of political, economic, and cultural developments in Canada. They get at the heart of alternative media by focusing on the three interconnected dimensions that define them: structure, participation, and activism. Alternative Media in Canada not only reveals how alternative media are enabled and constrained within Canada's complex media and policy environment; it also shows that, in the context of globalization, the Canadian experience parallels media and policy challenges in other nations.

Part 1: Structure

1 Sustaining Independent and Alternative Media / David Skinner

2 Public Service Educational Broadcasting: Between the Market and the Alternative Margins / Kirsten Kozolanka

3 Autonomous Media: Re-conceptualizing Alternative Media Practices / Scott Uzelman

4 "One Part Creativity and Nine Parts Hard Work": The Legacy of Feminist Periodicals / Barbara M. Freeman

5 The Real News Network as Hybrid Media: The Future of International Video News? / Sonja Macdonald

Part 2: Participation

6 Transformation of Practice, Policy, and Cultural Citizenships in Community Television / Michael Lithgow

7 Public Participation and Community Radio in Québec / Evan Light

8 Are Ethnic Media Alternative? / Karim H. Karim

9 Indigenous Media as Alternative Media: Participation and Cultural Production / Marian Bredin

Part 3: Activism

10 From Alienation to Autonomy: The Labour of Alternative Media / Nicole S. Cohen

11 Freeing the Net: On-line Mobilizations in Defence of Democracy / Kate Milberry

12 Regressive Social Relations, Activism, and Media / Patricia Mazepa

13 DIY Zines and Direct-Action Activism / Sandra Jeppesen

References

Index

Kirsten Kozolanka is an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University. Patricia Mazepa and David Skinner are both associate professors in the Department of Communication Studies at York University.

Contributors: Marian Bredin, Nicole S. Cohen, Barbara M. Freeman, Sandra Jeppesen, Karim H. Karim, Evan Light, Michael Lithgow, Sonja Macdonald, Kate Milberry, and Scott Uzelman.

Alternative Media in Canada represents the first edited collection of its type, an academic work seeking to elaborate the contours of the field specifically within the borders of the Canadian state. As such (in addition to securing a succinct title), it fills a substantial void … As the first book to focus a wide-angle lens upon "alternative media" within the borders of the Canadian state, Alternative Media in Canada stands out as a unique resource for teaching in Canadian institutions—and the quality, range, and relevance of contributions should reward not only those of us with particular interest in alternative media, communication policy studies, and the political economy of communication, but also scholars of media, politics, and social movements more generally, as well as media makers outside the mainstream, social justice activists, and engaged citizens. - Mike Paul Mowbray, Simon Fraser University (Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol 38, 2012)