After the Protests Are Heard
Enacting Civic Engagement and Social Transformation
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- $27.99
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- $27.99
Publisher Description
When the protests are over, a guide to creating long-lasting social change beyond the barricades
From the Women’s March in D.C. to #BlackLivesMatter rallies across the country, there has been a rising wave of protests and social activism. These events have been an important part of the battle to combat racism, authoritarianism, and xenophobia in Trump’s America. However, the struggle for social justice continues long after the posters and megaphones have been packed away. After the protests are heard, how can we continue to work toward lasting change?
This book is an invaluable resource for anyone invested in the fight for social justice. Welch highlights examples of social justice work accomplished at the institutional level. From the worlds of social enterprise, impact investing, and sustainable business, After the Protests Are Heard describes the work being done to promote responsible business practices and healthy, cooperative communities. The book also illuminates how colleges and universities educate students to strive toward social justice on campuses across the country, such as the Engaged Scholarship movement, which fosters interactions between faculty and students and local and global communities. In each of these instances, activists work from within institutions to transform practices and structures to foster justice and equality.
After the Protests Are Heard confronts the difficult reality that social change is often followed by spikes in violence and authoritarianism. It offers important insights into how the nation might more fully acknowledge the brutal costs of racism and the historical drivers of racial injustice, and how people of all races can contain such violence in the present and prevent its resurgence in the future. For many members of the social justice community, the real work begins when the protests end. After the Protests Are Heard is a must-read for everyone interested in social justice and activism – from the barricades and campuses to the breakrooms and cubicles.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Theologian Welch (Communities of Resistance and Solidarity) offers actionable responses to systemic injustice in this dryly written but expansive guide to "the third wave of social justice... building what is right." She identifies the goal as interdependence mutual care responsibility, and cooperation and begins with political science texts suggesting that "gains in civil rights, equality for women, people who are LGBTQIA..., and those with disabilities, as well as increasing racial, cultural, and religious diversity, will inevitably produce authoritarianism." In each chapter, Welch defines desired changes in various arenas (business, environmental conservation, journalism, and the arts) and provides examples of work being done by nonviolent protestors, civil servants, B corporations (businesses that balance purpose and profit), and human rights organizations, such as an empowerment-minded employment agency serving workers with disabilities and Project Drawdown, an organization working not to mitigate global warming but to make "deliberate attempts at restoration" and to benefit human well-being and the environment. Welch repeatedly emphasizes the importance of working with marginalized populations and embracing partial successes and incrementalism. Superfluous jargon and some organizational issues partially obfuscate clear recommendations about how to work toward social change. Filled with innumerable examples of effective social action, this dense but important work will give the guidance social justice minded readers are seeking.