Freedom Train: Mobilizing Alternative Media

Authors

  • Patricia H. Audette-Longo Concordia University

Keywords:

alternative media, Indigenous communities, oil sands, oil pipelines, protest, Canada

Abstract

In 2012, as efforts grew to move more Canadian oil into international markets, members of a group of First Nations communities undertook a cross-country protest to protect their lands from pipeline encroachment. This analysis of documents produced and shared by organizers of Freedom Train 2012 maps modes of mobilizing participation across media spaces. Drawing upon alternative media literature, this article proposes a turn from analyzing how protest movements use media tools to how protest movements can be understood as forms of alternative media. The article concludes by advocating further study of alternative media practices to attend to how traditionally marginalized voices and cross-community communication networks contest industrial, governmental, and mainstream media power.

Author Biography

Patricia H. Audette-Longo, Concordia University

Patricia Audette-Longo is a PhD candidate and Canada Graduate Scholar supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). 

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Published

2016-08-30

Issue

Vol. 10 (2016)

Section

Articles

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