Cultural Context

Cultural Context

1.      Definition: With respect to a protest movement, cultural context is the exploration of “what is happening and what is possible under current conditions” (Deluca and Peeples 190).

2.      Example: Deluca and Peeples draw attention to the emergence of media as the cultural context surrounding the effectiveness of the WTO protests.  In addition to the historical context (including opposition towards the existing power of large corporations) Deluca and Peeples name the public sphere, public screen, and acceptance of new media as a primary contextual component to the protest’s success.  They analyze, “This attention to the conflict outside of the conference not only increased scrutiny of the action of the protestors and police, but also increased coverage of the WTO in general” (Deluca and Peeples 196).

3.      Context: The authors analyze the importance of media as cultural contribution and limiting factor in stating, “These technologies have intensified the speed of communication and obliterated space as a barrier to communication.  They physically shrink the world while simultaneously expanding it…” (Deluca and Peeples 188). 

Works Cited: 

Deluca, Kevin Michael, and Jennifer Peeples. "From Public Sphere to Public Screen: Democracy, Activism, and the "violence" of Seattle." Critical Studies in Media Communication 19.2 (2002): 125-51. Web.