Radical Histories in Digital Culture

Applying a historical perspective to contemporary trends, this special issue considers the impact of digital culture and digital communication media on political and historical processes. Contributors examine the influence of the digital on political knowledge, the recording of history, and movements for social and economic justice. Using case studies, interviews, and other materials, they investigate how digital culture has reshaped access to and control of information and has restructured the interaction between communication technologies and social movements. Essays featured in this issue include a comparison of the radical activities of the nineteenth- century Luddites and the work of the present-day hacktivists Anonymous; an analysis of the reception of Wikileaks cables in the global context, using the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a case study; and the use of YouTube and other social media tools by right-wing nationalist groups in Japan.