Social change and creative activism in the 21st century: The mirror effect

Abstract

As the political terrain continues to change, people organize, communicate, and participate in different ways than they used to. Social Change and Creative Activism in the 21st Century shows how a new strand of imaginative politics is blurring the boundaries between artist and activist, and pop, prank, and protest. The author explores how the artistic activist is pushing the boundaries of the known repertoire of contention and dialogue by not only demonstrating against the status quo but also demonstrating how the world can be different. This book connects the dots from smaller performances and covert interventions to political campaigns, social movements and conventional party politics, and asks how provoked moments of disruption or clarity can fuse resistance and lead to mobilization. This book is a large-scale study of global creative activism that does not celebrate these new social actors as bearers of better societal alternatives, but explores how they facilitate the cultivation of such alternatives.