Courageous Citizens
How Culture Contributes to Social Change
- Celebrates 'courageous citizens': those whose daring, sharing and inventing contribute to our collective future
- Texts by visionary thinkers, artists and writers reaffirm the potential of culture to generate positive social change
Editors: Bas Lafleur, Wietske Maas, Susanne Mors
Contributors: John Akomfrah, Borderland Foundation, Rosi Braidotti, Vasyl Cherepanyn, Bojana Cvejić, Fatima El-Tayeb, Pascal Gielen, Stuart Hall, David Harvey, Stefan Kaegi, Ivan Krastev, Wietske Maas, Marina Naprushkina, Lia Perjovschi, Saskia Sassen, Ana Vujanović, Katherine Watson
Design: Elisabeth Klement & Jan Tomson
2018, Valiz with the European Cultural Foundation | paperback | 272 pp. | 21 cm x 15 cm (portrait size) | English | ISBN 978-94-92095-51-0
Over the past decades, the cultural and political map of Europe and the world has changed rapidly. Developments such as the changing status of the European Union, migration, and th wider repercussions of globalization have posed numerous social and political challenges. Instead of recognizing and valuing these challenges, there is a growing tendency to retreat into fixed ideas of culture and cultural divides. This book celebrates the capacity of individuals and small groups to contribute to social change through culture and art. It is a source of inspiration for renegotiating our understanding of the world and affirming culture as a critical space to practive courage and perseverance amid complex societal reconfigurations.
Courageous Citizens focuses on those whose daring, sharing, and inventing contribute to our collective future, and for whom cultura and democracy are the starting points for vision and action. The cycle of (re-)thinking, doing, and changing that is inherent in remodelling the way we view the world and concurrently the potential of culture to contribute to positive social change is addressed through three key themes:
I - Diversity and Equality;
II - Communities and Democracy;
III - Fragmentation and Solidarity.
Courageous Citizens is published on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the ECF Princess Margriet Award for Culture (PMA), an annual award acknowledging and amplifying the work of individuals and collectives whose creative work can truly make a difference in Europe’s societies.