Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Journal of Alternative & Community Media
  4. Volume 5, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 5, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2634-4726
  • E-ISSN: 2206-5857
file format pdf download PDF

Abstract

Taking as its point of departure a dialectical relation between capitalist enclosure of the commons and forces trying to prevent the commons from being enclosed, the archive can be deployed as a useful theoretical concept to identify the key institution at the heart of both commodifying and communing processes. The article first discusses existing literature on primitive accumulation and commons, then moves on to elaborate on the archive and concludes with an overview of contemporary contentious online practices enacted by communities, users and social movements.

© 2020 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/joacm_00073_1
2020-04-01
2024-10-10
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/joacm/5/1/joacm.5.1.27.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1386/joacm_00073_1&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Agamben, G.. ( 2007), Profanations, New York:: Zone Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Andrejevic, M.. ( 2007;), ‘ Surveillance in the digital enclosure. ’, Communication Review, 10:4, pp. 295–317.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Angelis, M. De. ( 2001;), ‘ Marx and primitive accumulation: The continuous character of capital’s “enclosures”. ’, The Commoner, 2, pp. 1–22, https://thecommoner.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Marx-and-primitive-accumulation-deAngelis.pdf. Accessed 12 April 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Angelis, M. De. ( 2003;), ‘ Reflections on alternatives, commons and communities. ’, The Commoner, 6, pp. 1–14, https://libcom.org/files/1_deangelis06.pdf. Accessed 12 April 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Angelis, M. De. ( 2004;), ‘ Separating the doing and the deed: Capital and the continuous character of enclosures. ’, Historical Materialism, 12:2, pp. 57–87.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Angelis, M. De. ( 2007), The Beginning of History: Value Struggles and Global Capital, London:: Pluto Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Angelis, M. De. ( 2017), Omnia Sunt Communia: On the Commons and the Transformation to Postcapitalism, London:: Zed Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Atton, C.. ( 2001), Alternative Media, London:: Sage;.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Atton, C.. ( 2003;), ‘ Reshaping social movement media for a new millennium. ’, Social Movement Studies, 2:1, pp. 3–15.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Bauwens, M., and Bollier, D.. ( 2015;), ‘ Here’s what a commons-based economy looks like. ’, Commons Transition, 8 September, https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/michel-bauwens-heres-what-a-commons-based-economy-looks-like/2015/07/02. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Benkler, Y.. ( 1998;), ‘ Overcoming agoraphobia: Building the commons of the digitally networked environment. ’, Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, 11:2, pp. 290–400, http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/articles/pdf/v11/11HarvJLTech287.pdf. Accessed 12 April 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Benkler, Y.. ( 2004;), ‘ Sharing nicely: On shareable goods and the emergence of sharing as a modality of economic production. ’, Yale Law Journal, 114:2, pp. 273–358.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Benkler, Y.. ( 2006), The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transformsmarkets and Freedom, New Haven, CT:: Yale University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Benjamin, W.. ( 2007), Illuminations, New York:: Schocken Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Berardi, F.. (Bifo) ( 2009), The Soul at Work: From Alienation to Autonomy, Los Angeles, CA:: Semiotext(e);.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Bollier, D.. ( 2008), Viral Spiral: How the Commoners Built a Digital Republic of Their Own, New York:: New Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Bonefeld, W.. ( 2001;), ‘ The permanence of primitive accumulation: Commodity fetishism and social constitution. ’, The Commoner, September, pp. 1–15, https://thecommoner.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/The-Permanence-of-Primitive-Accumulation-Bonefeld.pdf. Accessed 12 April 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Bookchin, M.. ( 2004), Post-Scarcity Anarchism, Montréal:: Black Rose Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Boyle, J.. ( 1997;), ‘ A politics of intellectual property: Environmentalism for the Net?. ’, Duke Law Journal, 47:1, pp. 87–116.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Boyle, J.. ( 2003;), ‘ The second enclosure movement and the construction of the public domain. ’, Law and Contemporary Problems, 66:1, pp. 33–74, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.470983.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Brophy, E., and Coté, M.. ( 2005;), ‘ The lives of infamous protesters. ’, Borderlands, 4:2, http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol4no2_2005/brophycote_lives.htm. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Broumas, A.. ( 2017;), ‘ The ontology of the intellectual commons. ’, International Journal of Communication, 11, pp. 1507–27, https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/6347. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Caffentzis, G.. ( 2009;), ‘ The future of “the commons”: Neoliberalism’s “plan B” or the original disaccumulation of capital?. ’, New Formations, 69, pp. 23–41.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Caffentzis, G.. ( 2013), In Letters of Blood and Fire: Work, Machines, and the Crisis of Capitalism, Oakland, CA:: PM Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Canella, G.. ( 2017;), ‘ Social movement documentary practices: Digital storytelling, social media and organizing. ’, Digital Creativity, 28:1, pp. 24–37.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Coleman, S., and Dyer-Witheford, N.. ( 2007;), ‘ Playing on the digital commons: Collectivities, capital and contestation in videogame culture. ’, Media, Culture & Society, 29:6, pp. 934–53.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Coté, M.. ( 2011;), ‘ What is a media dispositif? Compositions with Bifo. ’, Journal of Communication Inquiry, 35:4, pp. 378–86.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Dardot, P., and Laval, C.. ( 2014), Commun: Essai sur la révolution au XXIe siècle, Paris:: La Découverte;.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Derrida, J.. ( 1996), Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression, Chicago, IL:: University of Chicago Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Doherty, B.. ( 2016;), ‘ Toronto gets its own free, encrypted mesh network. ’, Motherboard/VICE, 27 April, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4xa3zq/toronto-gets-its-own-free-encrypted-mesh-network-CRTC-meshnet. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Downing, J. D. H.. ( 2001), Radical Media: Rebellious Communication and Social Movements, London:: Sage;.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Dyer-Witherford, N.. ( 1999), Cyber-Marx: Cycles and Circuits of Struggle in High-Technology Capitalism, Chicago, IL:: University of Illinois Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Featherstone, M.. ( 2000;), ‘ Archiving cultures. ’, British Journal of Sociology, 51:1, pp. 161–84.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Featherstone, M.. ( 2006;), ‘ Archive. ’, Theory, Culture & Society, 23:2&3, pp. 591–96.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Federici, S.. ( 2004), Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body, and Primitive Accumulation, New York:: Autonomedia;.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Findlay, C.. ( 2012;), ‘ Witness and trace: January 25 graffiti and public art as archive. ’, Interface, 4:1, pp. 178–82.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Foster, H.. ( 2004;), ‘ An archival impulse. ’, October, 110:110, pp. 3–22, https://doi.org/10.1162/0162287042379847.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Foucault, M.. ( 2004), The Archaeology of Knowledge, New York:: Pantheon Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Frischman, B. M.,, Madison, M. J., and Strandburg, K. J.. (eds) ( 2014), Governing Knowledge Commons, New York:: Oxford University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Fuchs, C.. ( 2011a;), ‘ An alternative view of privacy on Facebook. ’, Information, 2:1, pp. 140–65.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Fuchs, C.. ( 2011b;), ‘ New media, web 2.0 and surveillance. ’, Sociology Compass, 5:2, pp. 134–47.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Fuster-Morell, M.. ( 2009;), ‘ Action research: Mapping the nexus of research and political action. ’, Interface, 1:1, pp. 21–45.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Garcia, D., and Lovink, G.. ( 1997;), ‘ The ABC of tactical media. ’, Nettime, 16 May, https://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9705/msg00096.html. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Gibney, A.. ( 2013), We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, USA:: Jigsaw Productions;.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Gledhill, J.. ( 2012;), ‘ Collecting occupy London: Public collecting institutions and social protest movements in the 21st century. ’, Social Movement Studies, 11: 3&4, pp. 342–48.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Godfrey, D., and Parkhill, D. F.. ( 1980), Gutenberg Two, Erin, ON:: Press Porcépic;.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Graeber, D.. ( 2001), Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Own Dreams, Basingstoke:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Guinness, H.. ( 2014;), ‘ Mesh networks: The future of communication. ’, Make Use Of, 25 September, https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/mesh-networks-future-communication/. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Haiven, M.. ( 2014), Crises of Imagination, Crises of Power: Capitalism, Creativity and the Common, London:: Zed Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Hamilton, J. F.. ( 2000;), ‘ Alternative media: Conceptual difficulties, critical possibilities. ’, Journal of Communication Inquiry, 24:4, pp. 357–78.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Hamilton, J. F.. ( 2016;), ‘ Living up to its politics. ’, Journal of Alternative and Community Media, 1, pp. 17–18, https://joacm.org/index.php/JOACM/article/view/852/740. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Hardt, M.. ( 2010;), ‘ The common in communism. ’, Rethinking Marxism, 22:3, pp. 346–56.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Hardt, M., and Negri, A.. ( 2000), Empire, Cambridge, MA:: Harvard University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Hardt, M., and Negri, A.. ( 2004), Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire, New York:: Penguin Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Hardt, M., and Negri, A.. ( 2009), Commonwealth, Cambridge, MA:: Belknap Press and Harvard University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Hardt, M., and Negri, A.. ( 2012), Declaration, New York:: Argo-Navis;.
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Hess, C., and Ostrom, E.. (eds) ( 2006), Understanding Knowledge as a Commons: From Theory to Practice, Cambridge, MA:: MIT Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Holloway, J.. ( 2010), Crack Capitalism, London:: Pluto Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Kaun, A.. ( 2016;), ‘ Archiving protest digitally: The temporal regime of immediation. ’, International Journal of Communication, 10, pp. 5395–5408, https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/5079/1831. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Kidd, D.. ( 2003;), ‘ Indymedia.org: A new communications commons. ’, in M. McCaughey, and M. D. Ayers. (eds), Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory and Practice, New York:: Routledge;, pp. 47–70.
     [Google Scholar]
  61. Knappenberger, B.. ( 2014), The Internet’s Own Boy, USA:: FilmBuff Movies;.
     [Google Scholar]
  62. Lazzarato, M.. ( 1992;), ‘ Le concept de travail immatériel: La grande entreprise. ’, Futur Antérieur, 10:2, https://www.multitudes.net/Le-concept-de-travail-immateriel/. Accessed 15 April 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Lazzarato, M.. ( 1996;), ‘ Immaterial labor. ’, in P. Virno, and M. Hardt. (eds), Radical Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics, Minneapolis, MN:: University of Minnesota Press;, pp. 133–47.
     [Google Scholar]
  64. Lazzarato, M.. ( 2004;), ‘ From capital-labour to capital-life. ’, Ephemera, 4:3, pp. 187–208.
     [Google Scholar]
  65. Lazzarato, M.. ( 2007;), ‘ Strategies of the political entrepreneur. ’, SubStance, 36:1, pp. 87–97.
     [Google Scholar]
  66. Lazzarato, M., and Negri, T.. ( 1991;), ‘ Travail immatériel et subjectivité. ’, Futur Antérieur, 6, https://www.multitudes.net/travail-immateriel-et-subjectivite/. Accessed 15 April 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  67. Linebaugh, P.. ( 2008), The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All, Berkeley, CA:: University of California Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  68. Lynch, M.. ( 1999;), ‘ Archives in formation: Privileged spaces, popular archives and paper trails. ’, History of the Human Sciences, 12:2, pp. 65–87.
     [Google Scholar]
  69. Manoff, M.. ( 2004;), ‘ Theories of the archive from across the disciplines. ’, Libraries and the Academy, 4:1, pp. 9–25.
     [Google Scholar]
  70. Manovich, L.. ( 1999;), ‘ Database as symbolic form. ’, Convergence, 5:2, pp. 80–99.
     [Google Scholar]
  71. Manovich, L.. ( 2002), The Language of New Media, Cambridge, MA:: MIT Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  72. Marmaras, I.. ( 2014), Knowledge as a Common: Communities of Production and Sharing in Greece, Greece:: Personal Cinema;.
     [Google Scholar]
  73. Marmaras, I.. ( 2016), Building Communities of Commons: A Documentary on Networks in Sarantaporo Area, Greece:: Personal Cinema;.
     [Google Scholar]
  74. Marx, K.. ( 1982), Capital: Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy, , 3rd ed.., London:: Penguin Classics;.
     [Google Scholar]
  75. Mbembe, A.. ( 2002;), ‘ The power of the archive and its limits. ’, in C. Hamilton. (ed.), Refiguring the Archive, Dordrecht and London:: Kluwer Academic;, pp. 19–26.
     [Google Scholar]
  76. McDonald, K.. ( 2015;), ‘ From indymedia to anonymous: Rethinking action and identity in digital cultures. ’, Information, Communication & Society, 18:8, pp. 968–82.
     [Google Scholar]
  77. Midnight Notes Collective ( 1990), The New Enclosures, New York:: Midnight Notes;.
     [Google Scholar]
  78. Murdock, G.. ( 2018;), ‘ Media materialties: For a moral economy of machines. ’, Journal of Communication, 68:2, pp. 359–68.
     [Google Scholar]
  79. Ostrom, E.. ( 1990), Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, Cambridge:: Cambridge University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  80. P2P Foundation ( 2015), Commons Transition: Policy Proposals for an Open Knowledge Society, Amsterdam:: P2P Foundation;.
     [Google Scholar]
  81. Papadimitropoulos, V.. ( 2017;), ‘ The politics of the commons: Reform or revolt?. ’, TripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique, 15:2, pp. 565–83.
     [Google Scholar]
  82. Pell, S.. ( 2015;), ‘ Radicalizing the politics of the archive: An ethnographic reading of an activist archive. ’, Archiviaria, 80, November, pp. 33–57, https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13543/14896. Accessed 15 April 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  83. Pickard, V. W.. ( 2006;), ‘ Assessing the radical democracy of indymedia: Discursive, technical, and institutional constructions. ’, Critical Studies in Media Communication, 23:1, pp. 19–38.
     [Google Scholar]
  84. Pickerill, J.. ( 2007;), ‘ “Autonomy online”: Indymedia and practices of alter-globalisation. ’, Environment and Plannning A: Economy and Space, 39:11, pp. 2668–84.
     [Google Scholar]
  85. Platon, S., and Deuze, M.. ( 2003;), ‘ Indymedia journalism: A radical way of making, selecting and sharing news?. ’, Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 4:3, pp. 336–55.
     [Google Scholar]
  86. Poster, M.. ( 1990), The Mode of Information: Poststructuralism and Social Context, Cambridge:: Polity Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  87. Poster, M.. ( 2006), Information Please: Culture and Politics in the Age of Digital Machines, Durham, NC:: Duke University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  88. Raley, R.. ( 2009), Tactical Media, Minneapolis, MN:: University of Minnesota Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  89. Richards, T.. ( 1992;), ‘ Archive and utopia. ’, Representations, Special Issue: ‘Imperial Fantasies and Postcolonial Histories’ , 37, pp. 104–35.
     [Google Scholar]
  90. Richards, T.. ( 1993), The Imperial Archive: Knowledge and the Fantasy of Empire, London:: Verso;.
     [Google Scholar]
  91. Rodriguez, C.. ( 1996;), ‘ Shedding useless notions of alternative media. ’, Peace Review, 8:1, pp. 63–68.
     [Google Scholar]
  92. Rodriguez, C.. ( 2011), Citizens’ Media against Armed Conflict: Disrupting Violence in Colombia, Minneapolis, MN:: University of Minnesota Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  93. Roggero, G.. ( 2010;), ‘ Five theses on the common. ’, Rethinking Marxism, 22:3, pp. 357–73.
     [Google Scholar]
  94. Ross, C.. ( 2013;), ‘ Occupy collecting. ’, History Workshop Journal, 75:1, pp. 237–46.
     [Google Scholar]
  95. Said, E. W.. ( 1978), Orientalism, London:: Penguin;.
     [Google Scholar]
  96. Samtani, H.. ( 2011;), ‘ The anarchivists: Who owns the occupy Wall Street narrative?. ’, Brooklyn Ink, 26 December, http://brooklynink.org/2011/12/26/39230-the-anarchivists-who-owns-the-occupy-wall-street-narrative/. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  97. Schneider, N.. ( 2016;), ‘ The rise of a cooperatively owned Internet. ’, The Nation, 13 October, https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-rise-of-a-cooperatively-owned-internet/. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  98. Seidman, B.. ( 2011;), ‘ Internet activist charged with hacking into MIT network. ’, PBS, 22 July, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/the-daily-need/internet-activist-charged-with-hacking-into-mit-network/10559/. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  99. Söderberg, J., and O’Neil, M.. (eds) ( 2014), Book of Peer Production, Aarhus:: NSU Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  100. Springer, S.,, Chi, H.,, Crampton, J.W.,, McConnell, F.,, Cupples, J.,, Glynn, K.,, Warf, B., and Attewell, W.. ( 2012;), ‘ Leaky geopolitics: The ruptures and transgressions of WikiLeaks. ’, Geopolitics, 17:3, pp. 681–711.
     [Google Scholar]
  101. Sreberny, A.. ( 1994), Small Media, Big Revolution: Communication, Culture, and the Iranian Revolution, Minneapolis, MN:: University of Minnesota Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  102. Stoler, A.. ( 2002;), ‘ Colonial archives and the arts of governance. ’, Archival Science, 2, pp. 87–109.
     [Google Scholar]
  103. Stoler, A.. ( 2010), Along the Archival Grain: Thinking through Colonial Ontologies, Princeton, NJ:: Princeton University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  104. Swartz, A.. ( 2008), Guerilla Open Access Manifesto, Eremo , https://web.archive.org/web/20130407160343/ http://openaccessmanifesto.org/. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  105. Terranova, T.. ( 2004), Network Culture: Politics for the Information Age, London:: Pluto Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  106. Tréguer, F.,, Antoniadis, P., and Söderberg, J.. (eds) ( 2016;), ‘ Alternative Internets. ’, Journal of Peer Production, 9, http://peerproduction.net/issues/issue-9-alternative-internets/editorial-notes/. Accessed 15 April 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  107. Vercellone, C.. ( 2007;), ‘ From formal subsumption to general intellect: Elements for a Marxist reading of the thesis of cognitive capitalism. ’, Historical Materialism, 15:1, pp. 13–36.
     [Google Scholar]
  108. Vercellone, C.. ( 2010;), ‘ The crisis of the law of value and the becoming-rent of profit: Notes on the systemic crisis of cognitive capitalism. ’, in A. Fumagalli, and S. Mezzadra. (eds), Crisis in the Global Economy: Financial Markets, Social Struggles, and New Political Scenarios, Cambridge, MA:: MIT Press and Semiotext(e);, pp. 85–118.
     [Google Scholar]
  109. Walker, C.. ( 2014;), ‘ Mosireen and the battle for political memory. ’, Jadaliyya, 24 February, http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/16616/mosireen-and-the-battle-for-political-memory. Accessed 1 December 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  110. d’Urbano, Paolo. ( 2020;), ‘ (An/)archival commons: Digital media and contemporary social movements. ’, Journal of Alternative & Community Media, 5:1, pp. 27–43, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/joacm_00073_1
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/joacm_00073_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): archive; commons; digital media; online practices; primitive accumulation; social movements

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error