[csaa-forum] new book - the discursive-material knot

Mon Jun 12 21:47:32 ACST 2017

[Apologies for cross-posting and blatant self-promotion]

Dear colleagues,

I'm happy to announce the publication of my new book, entitled The 
Discursive-Material Knot.

The book consists out of three so-called platforms. The first platform 
is a theoretical discussion about the entanglement of the discursive and 
the material, grounded in discourse theory and new materialist theories. 
The second platform consists out of a re-reading of three theoretical 
bodies (through the lens of the discursive-material knot): participatory 
theory, community media theory and conflict theory. The third platform 
focuses on a case study in Cyprus, first providing a theoretical 
discussion on nationalism, then sketching the history of the Cyprus 
Problem, and finally analyzing the Cyprus Community Media Centre as a 
participatory-agonistic assemblage.

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These are the technical data about the book:

The Discursive-Material Knot
Cyprus in Conflict and Community Media Participation
Nico Carpentier | 2017 | XVIII, 472 PP.
978‐1‐4331‐2885‐1 (hc)
978‐1‐4331‐3753‐2 (pb)
978‐1‐4331‐3754‐9 (ebook PDF)
978‐1‐4331‐3755‐6 (ePUB)

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More information about the book can be found here:
http://nicocarpentier.net/dmk/
and
https://www.peterlang.com/view/product/31239?format=PBK

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This is a short bio of me:
Nico Carpentier is Professor in Media and Communication Studies at the 
Department of Informatics and Media of Uppsala University. In addition, 
he holds two part‐time positions, those of Associate Professor at the 
Communication Studies Department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and 
Docent at Charles University in Prague. He is a Research Fellow at the 
Cyprus University of Technology and Loughborough University. Earlier 
books are Understanding Alternative Media (2007, co‐authored with Olga 
Bailey and Bart Cammaerts), and Media and Participation: A Site of 
Ideological‐Democratic Struggle (2011).

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The blurb of the book:
The theoretical framework of the discursive‐material knot consists out 
of a non‐hierarchical ontology of the interactions of the discursive and 
the material, articulating the assemblages that are driven by this 
ontological setting as restless and contingent, sometimes incessantly 
changing shapes and sometimes being deeply sedimented. This book 
acknowledges the importance of discourse studies, in having produced a 
better understanding of the socio‐political role of frameworks of 
intelligibility, and of materialism theory in highlighting the 
importance of the agentic role of materials. Still, the combination of 
the discursive and the material requires our attention in a much more 
fundamental way; that is where this book’s first platform aims to 
provide a contribution. These ontological‐theoretical reflections are 
not produced in a void, but they are put to work in this book, first in 
platform two, which consists of a discursive‐material re‐reading of 
three theoretical fields, dealing with practices that are all highly 
relevant in contemporary democracies: participation, community media and 
conflict (transformation). Finally, in the third platform, this book 
turns its attention to a particular social reality, analyzing the logic 
of the discursivematerial knot in the particular context of the Cyprus 
Problem. This case study fills a gap by bringing community media and 
conflict transformation together, through the analysis of the role of 
the Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC), and its webradio MYCYradio, in 
contributing to the transformation of antagonism into agonism. Deploying 
a discursive‐material analysis to study the participation and 
agonization (and their articulation) in CCMC/MYCYradio shows the 
complexity and richness of conflict transformation processes, in 
combination with the importance of organizations such as CCMC/MYCYradio 
for the betterment of society.

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Its table of contents:
The Introduction of a Triptych
Platform 1
   Chapter 1: Reconciling the Discursive and the Material—A Knotted 
Theoretical Framework
   1 The Discursive
   2 Discursive Structures
   3 Agency
   4 The Material
   5 The Two Dimensions and their Knotted Relationships
   6 From High Theory to Research: About Sensitizing Concepts

Platform 2
Chapter 2: Participation, Community Media, and Conflict (Transformation)
1 Defining Participation—A Political (Studies) Approach
2 Defining Community Media Organizations
3 Conflict and Community Media

Platform 3
Chapter 3: The Cyprus Conflict
1 A Contextual Analysis of the Cyprus Problem
2 A Brief Historical Overview of the Cyprus Problem
3 Discourses and Materialities of the Cyprus Problem

Chapter 4: CCMC as a Participatory and Agonistic Assemblage
1 Introducing the CCMC and MYCYradio Case Study
2 CCMC, MYCYradio, and Participation
3 CCMC, MYCYradio, and Conflict Transformation
4 A Concluding Reflection on the Articulation of Participation and Agonism

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And some praise for the book:

“In this inspiring and outstanding book, Nico Carpentier provides an 
innovative theoretical framework which allows understanding and 
explaining the complexity of civil society community media. This 
integrated interdisciplinary approach is complemented by a fascinating 
in‐depth history and ethnography of Cypriot society and its range of— 
sometimes—agonistic media production and reception, thus succeeding in 
grounding the grand theories in discursive and material practices.”
—Ruth Wodak, Emeritus Professor, Lancaster University, United Kingdom, 
and University of Vienna, Austria

“Nico Carpentier once again demonstrates himself to be one of the most 
sophisticated, rigorous and timely theorists of the politics of 
participation in contemporary culture. Here, he works through the major 
strands of current theory to distill and synthesize a brilliant 
conceptual framework which he applies to understanding the Cyprus 
crisis, the discursive and material roots of nationalism, and the varied 
roles and models of community media. Rarely do we see theory and 
application brought together with such spectacular results.” —Henry 
Jenkins, author of By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism

“This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the question of 
how to treat the relation between discourse and matter from the points 
of view of theory, method, and critique. In a breathtakingly 
systematic-iterative application of a novel framework to the Cyprus 
problem, Nico Carpentier explores the potential of community media to 
transform the status of conflict from antagonism to agonism. In so doing 
the book robustly defends and advances the analytical and critical 
potential of discourse theory, demonstrating the immensely productive 
consequences of conceptualizing the relation between discourse and 
matter as a ‘knot.’”
—Jason Glynos, Essex University, United Kingdom

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Professor Nico Carpentier
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Web: http://nicocarpentier.net/
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Uppsala University, Department of Informatics and Media
Kyrkogårdsgatan 10, 753 13 Uppsala, Sweden
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) - Free University of Brussels
& Charles University in Prague
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Out now:
THE DISCURSIVE-MATERIAL KNOT
Cyprus in Conflict and Community Media Participation
https://www.peterlang.com/view/product/31239?rskey=q8mgC3&result=1
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The Commlist
http://commlist.org/
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Researching and Teaching Communication Book Series
http://www.researchingcommunication.eu/
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European Media and Communication Doctoral Summer School
http://www.comsummerschool.org/
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International Association for Media and Communication Research
http://www.iamcr.org/
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DESIRE
Centre for the study of Democracy, Signification and Resistance
http://researchcentredesire.eu/
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E-mail (UUppsala): nico.carpentier at im.uu.se
E-mail (VUBrussels): nico.carpentier at vub.ac.be
T (UUppsala): +46 (0)18 471 6341
Room (UUppsala): Ekonomikum building E329
Web: http://nicocarpentier.net/
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