Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book considers activist practices involving both older kinds of media and newer digital, social, and network-based forms. It provides case studies of activists using media to make political interventions in different historical periods and at local, national, and global levels. The book describes four thematic sections: communication for social change, policy interventions, feminism's digital wave, and new political genres. Drawing from a rich corpus of data generated by mixed research methods, Sasha Costanza-Chock and members of his research group show how LGBTQ and Two-Spirit activists produce vibrant cultural and media work across diverse technological platforms. The book suggests that studies of media activism should not focus narrowly on either media or activism per se, but should analyze instances of media activism in broader social and cultural contexts.