The Resistance Studies Reader 2008 (C. Kullenberg & J. Lehne, eds) is now out in print. It contains all published articles during the journal’s first year, and is a must-read for everyone interested in getting an overview of the vibrant field of resistance studies.

The book is sold at a non-profit price of 8,49 Euros + shipping, and is available globally. Order here. Also, you are free to download and copy the book for non-commercial purposes, which is great for reading groups and educational events.

The editorial team would like to thank all contributors, and John Petersson for the cover artwork.

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The Resistance Studies Magazine is calling for papers to the next general issue, expected to be published in September 2009.

We will consider:

- Theoretical and empirical articles on power, resistance and social change.

- Reviews of scholarly articles and books.

The 2009#2 issue, we will be published as an open-access issue on rsmag.org. The Resistance Studies Magazine is a fully peer-reviewed journal, publishing scholarly articles in the spirit of openness and sharing.

Submission dead line: August 31, 2009.

Your article may at a later stage be re-published in a printed book, as the Resistance Studies Magazine aims at publishing a yearly collection of journal articles in a reader.

For further information, please see our Submission guidelines available at rsmag.org

For questions concerning the issue please any of our editors. For submissions and drafts, please use all three e-mail addresses:

Christopher Kullenberg - editor (at) rsmag (dot) org

Jakob Lehne - jakob (dot) lehne (at) rsmag (dot) org

Patrick Hiller - patrick (dot) hiller (at) rsmag (dot) org

The first issue of 2009 is now ready for download. You may grab the whole issue, or go to the individual articles by Mona Lilja and Patrick Williams.

We hope you enjoy reading!

Abstract

Much sociological research has focused on the exertion of power, while the subfield of subculture studies has preferred to engage in the study of resistance to power. Acknowledging recent conceptualizations of resistance (and Einwohner 2004; Raby 2005), this chapter considers the relevance of subcultural studies in theorizing resistance, specifically by highlighting three dimensions along which the concept may be mapped: passive – active; micro – macro; and overt – covert. Reviewing research from the 1970s through the
2000s to show examples, I develop a conceptualization of each dimension, treating them not as sets of binary pairs, but rather as continua that co-exist and overlap.  My goal is to move beyond a typological approach to resistance by encouraging other resistance scholars to critically engage with these dimensions and to use, modify or reject them as we build a pragmatic theory of resistance’s usefulness and consequences.

Read full article:

Patrick Williams (2009) The Multidimensionality of Resistance in Youth-Subcultural Studies, in Resistance Studies Magazine, 2009#1.

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Abstract

The point of departure in this article is that social science researchers have not been able to show how different representations (pictures, statements, images, practices) have different impacts on the practice of negotiating power. However, when alternative resisting discourses are strengthened, it might be due to that people “map” their mental representations against what they comprehend as more concrete representations – and generate a match. Those representations that are comprehended as concrete – persons, performances, images, etc. – are seen as evidence and are mapped to determine whether or not the spoken discourse is true or false. Following this logic, to be trustworthy a discourse must not only consist of statements but also be composed of what people interpret as representations that are more “real”. The use of words such as ‘evidence’ and ‘demonstration’ in interviews with Cambodian women politicians could then be seen as indications of the importance of concrete representations. These representations, for example women that have assumed a political identity and act successfully from it, can make an alternative discourse trustworthy
and the women politicians can then be perceived as a means of resistance. Or as one of my respondents expressed it herself: “It is a fight back”.

Read full article:

Mona Lilja (2009) Theorizing Resistance: Mapping, Concretism and Universalism The New Feminist Concepts of our Time?, in Resistance Studies Magazine, 2009#1

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The university paper GU-journalen has made an interview with Christopher Kullenberg regarding the future of Resistance Studies, Resistance Studies Magazine and open-access publishing. Quote:

We want to raise awareness of current resistance activities. There is a great variety of perspectives and angles of approach to the study of resistance movements. People come from various disciplines and this is very rewarding. We don’t always understand each other but it is better to disagree than to have a common view of the world. That would be a far greater loss. But we have no intentions of making resistance studies to a resistance science”, Christopher Kullenberg explains.

Read the full article here.

Due to recent repressive legislation following the implementation of the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED 1), where corporativistic media industries are allowed to pursue their own private investigations in order to sue, fine and disrespect people who infringe on copyright, the Resistance Studies Magazine will donate a digital copy of the magazine to the Swedish parliament, in order to affirm the free distribution of knowledge and information.

Editor Christopher Kullenberg announces:

- For centuries the printing press has not only been a gate-keeper for the distribution of knowledge, it has also been fragile towards censorship, and highly dependent on economical interests. Of course, some actors in the media industries wish to conserve this order. The internet allows for the Resistance Studies Magazine to distribute articles globally, without spending more than a few Euros to host our site. Academic knowledge does not have to be trapped in the claws of anti-market institutions, such as the great publishing houses. We can destabilize these power-relations by way of creativity and sharing. As long as the Internet is uncensored, which unfortunately is not the case, not in Sweden, and not in other countries either, anyone can download our articles for free. In the long run, this European Union directive will lead only to building protective walls against the free transfer of knowledge.

The Resistance Studies Magazine does not wish the members of the Swedish parliament a merry christmas because the Internet knows far too many great holidays which may be summarised in kopimism.

The Resistance Studies Magazine is calling for papers for issue 4/08 with a thematic focus on Chinese Resistance.

Guest Editors:

Wei Liu wie.liu(at)gmail.com  and  Jorgen Johansen johansen.jorgen(at)gmail.com

We will consider:

Theoretical and empirical articles on power, resistance and social change in Chinese history and ongoing actions and campaigns with a Chinese connection.

We have a special interest on the struggle in Tibet and the protest and counter-protests around the Olympic Games.

Articles on Internet, electronic resistance and struggle against censorship in China.

Reviews of scholarly articles and books.

Deadline for manuscripts: October 20.

For further information, please see our Submission guidelines on

Expected to be published in December 1.

[this message may be re-published anywhere] - The third issue of the Resistance Studies Magazine is out now. You may read it immediately following this link. It has been a great pleasure to edit the five articles, and they are really worth reading. Here is a short summary of the articles from the editorial column:

• Drawing on a theoretical combination of James Scott’s conception of everyday resistance and Erwin Goffman’s symbolic interactionism, Carol Jo Evans develops an interesting case study of resistance within a North American Appalachian community.
• Shane Gunderson discusses how resistance movements may gain momentum, as “popular intellectuals” facilitate and combine ideological work with political initiative. Gunderson shows, through a case-study, that structuring resistance in a more strategic fashion, through sequential actions, will increase the possibility of social change.
• Femke Kaulingfreks writes about the May 2008 riots in Copenhagen, and how such events, when taken seriously, seem to grow politics from the middle, thus shaping grounds for important political agency. What falls outside of normalisation, is not necessary disruptive in a counter-productive way, but may reveal inequalities and open up debates.
• Thomas Riegler analyses the film The Battle of Algiers and how it has been caught up in debates on whether it has influenced resistance like an instruction manual in asymmetric warfare and guerrilla tactics, or not.
• Finally, Adrian Bua deals with the problems of pluralism and democracy, and proposes how class analysis can contribute to a more sustainable alternative called pluralist socialism.

Please download and read the articles, and watch out for a CFP for the 2008#4 Special Issue.