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This weekend in the reading roundup:
Keep safe everyone.
Photo credit: audi insperation
There's a really fascinating post over at the Book Patrol blog about a comic book produced in 1957. The 'Montgomery Story' is a depiction of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the leadership of Rev. Martin Luther King. Beyond its value as a historical curiosity, what makes this artifact so interesting is that at the time, it was used by the civil rights movement as a means of accessibly conveying the message of non-violence to a variety of audiences (e.g., students or those with little formal education) in an engaging format.
Moreover, the medium had distinct advantages. As Nancy Matton argues in her post:
It would seem that comics played an important--and often forgotten--role in disseminating the message of civil rights and non-violence at this pivotal point in American history. I'd be curious if readers could point to the use of comics for similar purposes in other countries?
Anyhow, if you'd like to view 'The Montgomery Story' for yourself, an electronic version is available from the always fantastically weird Ethan Persoff comic collection.
This weekend in the reading roundup:
Have a good weekend!
Photo credit: Adam_Baker
Over the past few weeks I've occasionally tweeted on the political crisis taking place in Canada that has been brought about by the prorogation (i.e., suspension) of Parliament. Traditionally, the power of prorogation is reserved for instances when all proposed legislation in a Parliamentary session has been passed and the government wishes to adjourn until it can propose new legislation for the following session. The current prorogation though does not fit this model.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has suspended Parliament until after the Olympic Games are completed. How come? Well, his minority Conservative government was in the midst of damaging investigations into Canadian complicity--up to the ministerial level-- in the torture of Afghani detainees and an ensuing cover-up. But beyond trying to use the Olympic circus to make Canadians forget about the scandal, he is also using the prorogation period to make patronage appointments to the Canadian Senate--Canada's Senate is not elected--as part of a broader strategy to derail the torture investigations by stacking key investigative committees with supporters. All in all, it's a very ugly business.
What has been interesting though is that a growing number of Canadians are becoming quite vocal in their outrage over Harper's prorogation. And one of the vehicles of protest mobilization has been Facebook. But who are these people and what exactly are they angry about?
Well, the Rideau Institute has just released an interesting study by Pierre Killeen that provides some initial answers to these questions. In general, members of the 200,000 strong Facebook group are older (50% over the age of 45) politically engaged individuals (e.g., 96% voted in the last election). 53% joined the group because they thought that prorogation was anti-democratic while 33% thought that Parliament should be investigating the handling of Afghan detainees. And for 55% of those surveyed, it was the first time that they had joined a Facebook group with a political theme.
How then might one interpret these findings? Will Facebook be a new site for political mobilization in Canada? Will 'Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament' emerge as a electoral force in the next election? Will Facebook groups begin to get taken as seriously as other forms of interest groups or political opinion measurement by Canadian politicians? Or do politically themed Facebook groups merely serve as pressure valve releases in instances when people are dissatisfied without resulting in tangible political change? And do these findings tell us something meaningful about who is actually using social networking technology and for what purposes?
In this case, Killeen argues that the survey results show that decision makers should not dismiss the Facebook group ‘Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament’ given the overrepresentation of active voters in its growing membership. Thus, it may just be that the next few months in Canadian politics and the role that Facebook plays in grassroots political mobilization against the Conservative government will prove to be really interesting...
Image/photo credits: both from designwallah (away from flickr)
My book, Chasing Dragons: Security, Identity, and Illicit Drugs in Canada (University of Toronto Press 2008) has just been reviewed in the Canadian Journal of Sociology. More important, I'm pleased to report that the review is supportive. Anyhow, you can read it here.
This weekend in the reading roundup:
Have a good weekend!
Photo credit: alexindigo
Traditionally, the emphasis has been on how political socialization contributes to support for--or involvement with--a particular political party or pressure group. My own work takes a more expansive view of what politics 'is' and is interested in exploring the role that popular culture might play in socializing people to be predisposed towards particular explanatory narratives when it comes to political dynamics and understandings of the limits of political possibility.
For the moment I've been looking at children's story books, and focusing on the Paddington Bear series by Michael Bond. While some might find it surprising, these books are incredibly fertile ground for exploring themes of migration, integration, British identity, multi-culturalism, liberal subjectivity, and security.
Given these interests, I was pleased to discover that the UK Parliament has commissioned a very well produced on-line video game called 'MP for a Week', targeted at 11-14 olds. Players chose which region they would like to represent and what issue areas they would like to focus on. The rest of the game revolves around deciding how to balance the demands of your constituents and the demands of your party with establishing your own media profile and (in some cases) adhering to your own moral compass.
What I find so interesting about the game is that it performing political socialization on two levels. On a very obvious level it is teaching children about the role of MPs in a parliamentary system and attempting to demonstrate how challenging a job it can be.
On another level though, what could be argued to be a more vital form of socialization is taking place. That is in terms of political possibility. The actual areas of policy open for questioning and the range of viewpoints available are incredibly narrow, reflecting for the most part 'center-left/center-right' positions. While one could argue that this is reflective of UK parliamentary politics, thus demonstrating the realism of the game design, one can see how the structure of the game itself makes a contribution socializing the dismissal of alternatives to the current socio-political economic system.
As such, 'MP for a Week' draws our attention to how simulations shape perceptions of what is politically realistic in contemporary society and socialize children into passively accepting the foundations of the status quo.
Photo credit: LD-
This weekend in the reading roundup:
Have a good weekend!
Photo credit: Big Jobs
This weekend in the reading roundup:
Have a good weekend and a happy new year!
Image credit: Temari 09
