Workshop on Civic Media and Activism
The aim of this workshop is three-fold. First, it introduces participants to the important and fascinating area of political and civil society activism. Second, it highlights the interconnections between media, politics, activism and advocacy today. Third, itsurveys the impact of activism and civil society’s advocacy on contemporary political systems. In short, the workshop provides participants with a critical and practical understanding of the civil society activism-media-politics circuit at the local, national and global levels.
This workshop combines a theoretical, critical approach with a practical one. On the theoretical-critical level, students will be introduced to authors, activists and theories discussing civil society activism, advocacy, policy-making (local, national and even global), communication and media. Theories and concepts will not be discussed in isolation from one another but will be integrated and exemplified with specific case studies throughout the course. On the practical level, participants will be introduced to the analysis of (both successful and unsuccessful) advocacy and activism efforts from civil society actors. They will look at key case studies, explore the constitutive elements of advocacy campaigns (including campaign objectives, target audiences, target responses, message attributes and media channels) and learn how these impacted political and policy systems.
