Abstract
This fascinating book takes the reader inside the universe of a small activist organization called Prometheus, based in Philadelphia (USA), and mobilizing around the practice (and the policymaking) of low power frequency modulation (FM) radio. Combining policy advocacy with reflective technical engagement, Prometheus showcases a unique politics of technology within the realm of contemporary media activism. Similar to other media-activist groups such as Indymedia, Prometheus does not take technology as an end in itself, but sees it as a means to a political end—one that transcends the media demo-cratization agenda to embrace a social justice ethos of global breath. What makes this group worth studying, however, is not solely its distinctive, transformative “politics of technology” or the crucial role it played in the US media democratization movement, but its unique articulation of participatory ideals and politics in relation to technical knowledge, and its continuous efforts to counteract the expert nature of technology creation. In addition, and contrary to other groups its contemporary, Prometheus developed radio work in open contrast to the (much more popular) digital media, albeit only to engage with (some of) it at a later stage.
The seven chapters (plus introduction) of the book explore Prometheus’ geeky technical identity in interaction with the activist, countercultural, and gender identities (and dynamics) embodied by its members; the activists’ technical work and its interplay with affective dimensions and the pedagogy associated with their agenda of demystification of the technology; the evolution of the groups and of its priorities over time; the discursive practices around the medium and the reinterpretation of its “old” identity; and the groups’ engagement with (and occasionally resistance to) Internet-based technology. Data for the book derive from the author’s participant observation over the period 2003–2007, coupled with 29 semi-structured interviews and document analysis on activism and policy (1996–2006). In particular, the author takes “barnraisings,” namely, intense weekends when a radio station would be collectively built and often even erected from scratch, as privileged observation sites, for their fusing knowledge-sharing and hands-on participation, and their bringing together core Prometheus activists with their community of reference.
The chosen methodology allows the author to produce a captivating narrative that reproduces the passion, emotions, and tensions of the field, making the book a particularly pleasant read, also thanks to the many pictures disseminated throughout the text. The central tenet of the book is thought-provoking, as the author approaches Prometheus activists in their guise of “propagators of technology” (p. xi) through discursive material engagement with technical artifacts. Although this is an approach already known in the field of media activism, propagation here is intended as reproduction and replication but also as the ability to create an effect at a distance. More specifically, Prometheus’ pro-pagators not only disseminated use and interpretations but also technical engagement. The focus of the narrative is never on the technology alone, but on the social relationships it triggers, inspires, and shapes. In fact, propagation is believed to structure not only material artifacts but also a certain type of social relations—horizontal, broadly democratic, and rooted in self-determination.
The book starts with offering a historical perspective on radio activism in the United States, from amateur operators and the Appropriate Technology movement of the 1960s all the way to the adoption of the Local Community Radio Act by President Obama in 2010. Importantly, this diachronic outlook focuses on both the (slow) evolution of regulation, and the groupings and the protest that animated it at the grassroots, propagating a “tinkering” approach to the medium, rather than a passive one. The issue of the culture(s) and ideation people associate with technology is central to the manuscript, which ultimately strives to understand “how these notions get affixed to the artifact and with what consequences” (p. 11).
Among the juiciest findings of the book is the complex articulation between the “political, affective and aesthetic identifications” (p. 22) activists put onto radio technology, and elaborated in the context of technical practice, and that transcended technology itself to affect group dynamics. The author effectively pictures the different identities as they come to life and interact, occasionally standing in contradiction with each other. Particularly interesting is the chapter that plays geek identities against gender selfhoods in the context of technical work, showing how even groups openly committed to gender equality are not immune from reproducing gendered identities—and might even end up reinscribing gendered associations in nontechnical work. Another noteworthy observation concerns the group’s evolution over time, which led activists to, on the other hand, give in to structure in order to safeguard their equalitarian principles, and, on the other, privilege technical work over policy advocacy, as a means to distinguish the group from other organizations in the media democratization realm.
Although the book focuses on an “old” technology and on a single-site ethnography, it draws conclusions that are potentially universal and certainly of interest to new media scholars, especially if we are to understand current media activism and mobilizations around digital technology, as well as technology use for political purposes. In particular, four lessons stand out. First, there are risks associated with the “fetishizing of technology as a platform for egalitarian politics” (p. xvi). Second, material artifacts like technology have politics not only because these are built-in by designer and producers but also because people associate to them a variety of meanings and expectations. Third, the culture(s) and ideas people associate with technology have the power to dramatically shape technology use and adoption. Finally, we ought to look at people’s relationships with technology, and “how these relationships are inscribed in our social and material world” (p. xxiv) if we are to understand the impact of technology on social and political action. Overall, as the author argues, “contestations over the meaning of radio can reveal depth and gradation in the meaning and valuation of electronic communication more generally” (p. 189), and the book stands as a reminder of and a model to analyze empowerment through technology well beyond radio.
While some points of the research design remain partially questionable to a political sociologist like this reviewer, for example, the unclear distinction between movement and practice, the author does a good job in exploring a composite and captivating field of action, as Alberto Melucci (1996) would describe it. This book is a valuable addition to the reading list of undergraduate as well as graduate courses on social movements or alternative media—one able to historicize media activism and people’s grassroots engagement with technology, while providing a critical counterpoint to the current obsession for social media platforms as the sole venue for political contention to emerge.