Libros

Participation has become fashionable again, but at the same time it has always played a crucial role in our contemporary societies, and it has been omnipresent in a surprisingly large number of societal fields. In the case of the media sphere, the present-day media conjuncture is now considered to be the most participatory ever, but media participation has had a long and intense history. To deal with these paradoxes, this book looks at participation as a structurally unstable concept and as the object of a political-ideological struggle that makes it oscillate between minimalist and maximalist versions. This struggle is analysed in theoretical reflections in five fields (democracy, arts, development, spatial planning and media) and in eight different cases of media practice. These case studies also show participation’s close connection to power, identity, organization, technology and quality.

‘Communication and Citizenship: Rethinking Crisis and Change’ was the general theme of the 2110 IAMCR Conference that was hosted by the Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho, Portugal,
18-22 July. This book comprehends Plenary Addresses on the general theme hoping that their publication will keep the debate alive. In a time of profound economic and social crisis, the scientific community is expected to shed light on contemporary deadlocks and uncertainties. These texts are part of the indispensable continuous critique.

O livro, organizado por Alexandre Barbalho, Bruno Fuser e Denise Cogo, reúne artigos de professores/pesquisadores brasileiros sobre a influência da comunicação na formação da cidadania contemporânea. Com uma escrita agradável e impactante, os autores relacionam o conceito clássico de cidadania com a comunicação popular, alternativa e comunitária e refletem sobre a importância das redes sociais na sociedade globalizada. Seu lançamento em Fortaleza acontecerá no dia 17 de junho, às 19h, na Livraria Cultura localizada na Av. Dom Luís, 1010.