Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

DIY Dying: Video Activism as Archive, Commemoration and Evidence

Askanius, Tina LU (2012) In International Journal of E-Politics
Abstract
Abstract in Undetermined
This article examines video activism in a context where ubiquitous camera technologies and online video sharing platforms are radically changing the media landscape in which demonstrations and political activism operates. The author discusses a number of YouTube videos documenting and narrating the recurring, anti-capitalist demonstrations in Europe in the past decade. With the death of Ian Tomlinson in London during the 2009 G20 protests as an empirical starting point, the author raises questions of how video documentation of this event links up with previous protest events by juxtaposing representations of ‘the moment of death’ (Zelizer, 2004, 2010) of protesters in the past. In a three-legged typology of the... (More)
Abstract in Undetermined
This article examines video activism in a context where ubiquitous camera technologies and online video sharing platforms are radically changing the media landscape in which demonstrations and political activism operates. The author discusses a number of YouTube videos documenting and narrating the recurring, anti-capitalist demonstrations in Europe in the past decade. With the death of Ian Tomlinson in London during the 2009 G20 protests as an empirical starting point, the author raises questions of how video documentation of this event links up with previous protest events by juxtaposing representations of ‘the moment of death’ (Zelizer, 2004, 2010) of protesters in the past. In a three-legged typology of the modes of appropriation of these commemoration videos, this article suggests that these videos work as (1) an archive of action and activist memory, (2) a site of commemoration in a online shrine for grieving, and (3) a space to provide and negotiate visual evidence of police violence and state repression. The author offers a re-articulation of the longstanding debate on visual evidence, action, and testimony in video activism. The results are suggestive of how vernacular commemorative genres of mourning and paying tribute to victims of police violence are fused with the online practices of bearing witness and producing visual evidence in new creative modes of using video for change. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Video activism, Political protest, Commemorative genres, Visual evidence
in
International Journal of E-Politics
publisher
I G I Global
ISSN
1947-914X
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
340a8e5c-6bdc-41ad-9585-74cefdfe1fa4 (old id 2199936)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 09:51:06
date last changed
2021-03-22 14:51:51
@article{340a8e5c-6bdc-41ad-9585-74cefdfe1fa4,
  abstract     = {{Abstract in Undetermined<br/>This article examines video activism in a context where ubiquitous camera technologies and online video sharing platforms are radically changing the media landscape in which demonstrations and political activism operates. The author discusses a number of YouTube videos documenting and narrating the recurring, anti-capitalist demonstrations in Europe in the past decade. With the death of Ian Tomlinson in London during the 2009 G20 protests as an empirical starting point, the author raises questions of how video documentation of this event links up with previous protest events by juxtaposing representations of ‘the moment of death’ (Zelizer, 2004, 2010) of protesters in the past. In a three-legged typology of the modes of appropriation of these commemoration videos, this article suggests that these videos work as (1) an archive of action and activist memory, (2) a site of commemoration in a online shrine for grieving, and (3) a space to provide and negotiate visual evidence of police violence and state repression. The author offers a re-articulation of the longstanding debate on visual evidence, action, and testimony in video activism. The results are suggestive of how vernacular commemorative genres of mourning and paying tribute to victims of police violence are fused with the online practices of bearing witness and producing visual evidence in new creative modes of using video for change.}},
  author       = {{Askanius, Tina}},
  issn         = {{1947-914X}},
  keywords     = {{Video activism; Political protest; Commemorative genres; Visual evidence}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{I G I Global}},
  series       = {{International Journal of E-Politics}},
  title        = {{DIY Dying: Video Activism as Archive, Commemoration and Evidence}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}