What does Barack Obama’s re-election campaign have in common with a dusty box of black and white photographs found in a Cardiff studio? The answer is something that we are all a part of – communities. The way in which Obama’s team drove engagement with the US electorate is fabled. Online and offline, people came together to spread the campaign’s messages across the country. Less well known is how Jon Pountney, who found the Cardiff photos, reached out across the web and into the local community to try and identify the faces captured in them. Piece by piece, this community constructed a story of the photos, which in turned out to be a remarkable slice from the city’s history. In Connected, Hannah Waldram, Ed Walker and Marc Thomas explore examples from across the world which demonstrate that social media is a hugely powerful tool, but it is when it combines with physical communities – spurring action, amplifying a message, organising movements – that it becomes truly transformative. It is a fascinating insight into how communities can be so much greater than the sum of their parts, and how the power of the internet has become seamlessly woven into community action. The authors also offer practical steps for how to make the most of communities and harness their potential.
What does Barack Obama’s re-election campaign have in common with a dusty box of black and white photographs found in a Cardiff studio? The answer is something that we are all a part of – communities. The way in which Obama’s team drove engagement with the US electorate is fabled. Online and offline, people came together to spread the campaign’s messages across the country. Less well known is how Jon Pountney, who found the Cardiff photos, reached out across the web and into the local community to try and identify the faces captured in them. Piece by piece, this community constructed a story of the photos, which in turned out to be a remarkable slice from the city’s history. In Connected, Hannah Waldram, Ed Walker and Marc Thomas explore examples from across the world which demonstrate that social media is a hugely powerful tool, but it is when it combines with physical communities – spurring action, amplifying a message, organising movements – that it becomes truly transformative. It is a fascinating insight into how communities can be so much greater than the sum of their parts, and how the power of the internet has become seamlessly woven into community action. The authors also offer practical steps for how to make the most of communities and harness their potential.
Traditional midwifery, culture, customs, understandings, and meanings surrounding pregnancy and birth are grounded in distinct epistemologies and worldviews that have sustained Indigenous women and their families since time immemorial. Years of colonization, however, have impacted the degree to which women have choice in the place and ways they carry and deliver their babies. As nations such as Canada became colonized, traditional gender roles were seen as an impediment. The forced rearrangement of these gender roles was highly disruptive to family structures. Indigenous women quickly lost their social and legal status as being dependent on fathers and then husbands. The traditional structures of communities became replaced with colonially informed governance, which reinforced patriarchy and paternalism. The authors in this book carefully consider these historic interactions and their impacts on Indigenous women’s experiences. As the first section of the book describes, pregnancy is a time when women reflect on their bodies as a space for the development of life. Foods prepared and consumed, ceremony and other activities engaged in are no longer a focus solely for the mother, but also for the child she is carrying. Authors from a variety of places and perspectives thoughtfully express the historical along with contemporary forces positively and negatively impacting prenatal behaviours and traditional practices. Place and culture in relation to birth are explored in the second half of the book from locations in Canada such as Manitoba, Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and Aotearoa. The reclaiming and revitalization of birthing practices along with rejuvenating forms of traditional knowledge form the foundation for exploration into these experiences from a political perspective. It is an important part of decolonization to acknowledge policies such as birth evacuation as being grounded in systemic racism. The act of returning birth to communities and revitalizing Indigenous prenatal practices are affirmation of sustained resilience and strength, instead of a one-sided process of reconciliation.
A look at some current forms of penal governance in Canadian federal women's prisons and a suggestion that the prison system itself, given its primary functions of custody and punishment, is consistent in thwarting attempts at progressive reform.
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