Pleasure-based politics in Puerto Rican and Cuban pop culture Joy is a politicized form of pleasure that goes beyond gratification to challenge norms of gender, sexuality, race, and class. Kristie Soares focuses on the diasporic media of Puerto Rico and Cuba to examine how music, public activist demonstrations, social media, sitcoms, and other areas of culture resist the dominant stories told about Latinx joy. As she shows, Latinx creators compose versions of joy central to social and political struggle and at odds with colonialist and imperialist narratives that equate joy with political docility and a lack of intelligence. Soares builds her analysis around chapters that delve into gozando in salsa music, precise joy among the New Young Lords Party, choteo in the comedy ¿Qué Pasa U.S.A.?, azúcar in the life and death of Celia Cruz, dale as Pitbull’s signature affect, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s use of silliness to take seriously political violence. Daring and original, Playful Protest examines how Latinx creators resist the idea that joy only exists outside politics and activist struggle.

From the Women in Black vigils and Dyke marches to the Million Mom March, women have seized a dynamic role in early twenty-first century protest. The varied demonstrations--whether about gender, sexuality, war, or other issues--share significant characteristics as space-claiming performances in and of themselves beyond their place in any broader movement. Elizabeth Currans blends feminist, queer, and critical race theory with performance studies, political theory, and geography to explore the outcomes and cultural relevance of public protest. Drawing on observation, interviews, and archival and published sources, Currans shows why and how women utilize public protest as a method of participating in contemporary political and cultural dialogues. She also examines how groups treat public space as an important resource and explains the tactics different women protesters use to claim, transform, and hold it. The result is a passionate and pertinent argument that women-organized demonstrations can offer scholars a path to study the relationship of gender and public space in today's political culture.

This book starts with the proposition that digital media invite play and indeed need to be played by their everyday users. Play is probably one of the most visible and powerful ways to appropriate the digital world. The diverse, emerging practices of digital media appear to be essentially playful: Users are involved and active, produce form and content, spread, exchange and consume it, take risks, are conscious of their own goals and the possibilities of achieving them, are skilled and know how to acquire more skills. They share a perspective of can-do, a curiosity of what happens next? Play can be observed in social, economic, political, artistic, educational and criminal contexts and endeavours. It is employed as a (counter) strategy, for tacit or open resistance, as a method and productive practice, and something people do for fun. The book aims to define a particular contemporary attitude, a playful approach to media. It identifies some common ground and key principles in this novel terrain. Instead of looking at play and how it branches into different disciplines like business and education, the phenomenon of play in digital media is approached unconstrained by disciplinary boundaries. The contributions in this book provide a glimpse of a playful technological revolution that is a joyful celebration of possibilities that new media afford. This book is not a practical guide on how to hack a system or to pirate music, but provides critical insights into the unintended, artistic, fun, subversive, and sometimes dodgy applications of digital media. Contributions from Chris Crawford, Mathias Fuchs, Rilla Khaled, Sybille Lammes, Eva and Franco Mattes, Florian 'Floyd' Mueller, Michael Nitsche, Julian Oliver, and others cover and address topics such as reflective game design, identity and people's engagement in online media, conflicts and challenging opportunities for play, playing with cartographical interfaces, player-emergent production practices, the re-purposing of data, game creation as an educational approach, the ludification of society, the creation of meaning within and without play, the internalisation and subversion of roles through play, and the boundaries of play.

Krystian lives a life not unlike others. He went to school, held an average job, and lived alone. However, everything began to change when he decided to move into a mysterious, old house. Events began to unfold that defied everything he knew about the world. Voices, ideas, and visions all began coming to him until his world was consumed by these strange, new circumstances. When an angelic being begins to explain his peculiar destiny, he is drawn into an adventure that traverses worlds, lives, and even time itself. This majestic being seems intriguingly knowledgeable about his situation, but will her allure prove to be deceptive? Not knowing, Krystian finds himself facing a war with dark beings of other worlds. Using ancient secrets drawn from real places, and knowledge imparted from new friends he meets, Krystian harnesses the energies necessary to explore his new abilities in the search for a solution. Will Krystian find the strength he needs to fulfill his destiny? Will he master his situation and accomplish his purpose in the universe? Only time will tell. Follow his journey and see Firsthand The mystery, The struggles of his training, And The accomplishments set before him. Author Krystian Knight's realistic style brings this science fiction/fantasy to life with people, places, and worlds that are both similar to our own and yet much more fantastic. With romance, war, relationships, and destiny, Comes the Light encompasses the full spectrum of gripping fantasy action.

This book shows how Carnival under British colonial rule became a locus of resistance as well as an exercise and affirmation of power. Carnival is both a space of theatricality and a site of politics, where the playful, participatory aspects are appropriated by countervailing forces seeking to influence, control, channel or redirect power. Focusing specifically on the Maltese islands, a tiny European archipelago situated at the heart of the Mediterranean, this work links the contrast between play and power to other Carnival realities across the world. It examines the question of power and identity in relation to different social classes and environments of Carnival play, from streets to ballrooms. It looks at satire and censorship, unbridled gaiety and controlled celebration. It describes the ways Carnival was appropriated as a power channel both by the British and their Maltese subjects, and ultimately how it was manipulated in the struggle for Malta’s independence.

Fixing American Politics: Solutions for the Media Age brings together original chapters from 34 noted scholars from two disciplines – political science and communication – asked to identify the most pressing problems facing the American people and how they can be solved. Authors address the questions succinctly and directly, with their favored solutions featured in chapter titles that exhort and inspire. The book gives the reader much to think about and debate. Should news outlets be funded with public money rather than by private enterprise? Are the new social media a boon or a bane to political elections? Is the American past dead, or is it living once again? Do churchgoers and environmentalists have anything to discuss? Is the FCC doing its job? Can political ads be made less toxic? Should Fox News be "cancelled?" Should cancel cultures be cancelled? Can we become more civil to one another and, if so, how? Fixing American Politics poses all the best questions ... and offers some concrete answers as well. This book is perfect for students, citizens, the media, and anyone concerned with contemporary challenges to civic life and discourse today.

A group of anti-conscription activists break into a prison, demanding to be jailed together with their friend already locked up because of his beliefs. Clowns from the rebel clown army mimic police sent to control political protests. Visiting Santas hand out presents taken from shop shelves without the approval of the shopping centre management. These are examples of humorous political stunts - public actions, hoaxes and happenings that confront systems of power. This book contains many amusing stories of such stunts, showing the boldness and creativity of the activists. Interviews and documents are used to show how humour can facilitate outreach, mobilisation and a culture of resistance. Humorous Political Stunts combines insights from the fields of nonviolence and humour studies and makes theoretical contributions to each area.

By studying urban activism in Central and Eastern Europe, this volume argues that the recent resurgence of urban grassroots mobilisation represents a new phase in the development of post-socialist civil societies and that these civil societies have significantly more vitality than is commonly perceived. The case studies here reflect the diversity and complexity of post-socialist urban movements, capturing also the extent to which the laboratory of urban politics is richly illustrative of the complex nexus of state-society-market relations within post-socialism.

Offering an innovative and dynamic approach to adult learning, Playful Learning explores the potential of play in adulthood with the goal of helping educators, corporate trainers and event designers incorporate play-based activities for adults into both educational and work settings. Through a comprehensive overview of the value of play in adulthood, this book responds to the growing popularity of playful events for adults in academic and business settings designed to promote higher levels of engagement. Drawing on the authors’ own decades of experience at the forefront of the field, this helpful reference incorporates strategies and techniques for bringing play into any learning design. Examples and case studies of successful playful design at conferences, training events, and in higher education illustrate what effective playful event design looks like in practice. With a multi-sector appeal that spans business, education and entertainment while bringing together practice and theory in an accessible manner, Playful Learning is a must-have resource for researchers, practitioners, managers and administrators alike.

An important new voice provides an empowering look at why video games need feminism—and why all of us should make space for more play in our lives. You play like a girl: It’s meant to be an insult, accusing a player of subpar, un-fun playing. If you’re a girl, and you grow up, do you “play like a woman”—whatever that means? In this provocative and enlightening book, Shira Chess urges us to play like feminists. Playing like a feminist is empowering and disruptive—it exceeds the boundaries of gender yet still advocates for gender equality. Roughly half of all players identify as female, and “Gamergate” galvanized many of gaming’s disenfranchised voices. Chess argues games are in need of a creative platform-expanding, metaphysical explosion—and feminism can take us there. She reflects on the importance of play, playful protest, and how feminist video games can help us rethink the ways that we tell stories. Feminism needs video games as much as video games need feminism. Play and games can be powerful. Chess’s goal is for all of us—regardless of gender orientation, ethnicity, ability, social class, or stance toward feminism—to spend more time playing as a tool of radical disruption.