Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International
Pages: 288
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-78348-315-0 • Hardback • May 2021 • $120.00 • (£92.00)
978-1-78348-317-4 • eBook • May 2021 • $38.00 • (£29.00) (coming soon)
Benjamin Heim Shepard is Professor of Human Services at New York City College of Technology. For the last two decades, he has worked on campaigns for public space, including community gardens, bike lanes, and public welfare issues ranging from education to AIDS services. To this end, he has done organizing work with the Professional Staff Congress, ACT UP, SexPanic!, Reclaim the Streets, Times UP, CitiWide Harm Reduction, Housing Works, and More Gardens!. He is currently the president of the Mid Atlantic Consortium of Human Services. He is also the author of the books: Illuminations on Market Street, bel Friendships,Community Projects as Social Activism: From Direct Action to Direct Services, White Nights and Ascending Shadows: An Oral History of the San Francisco AIDS Epidemic and Queer Political Performance and Protest. Part two of this study is Play, Creativity, and Social Movements. Along with Greg Smithsimon, he is co-author of The Beach Beneath the Streets: Contesting New York’s Public Spaces. He is the co-editor of the book From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization which was a non-fiction finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards in 2002.
Introduction / 1. Cities as DIY Spaces: On Dialectical Anarchism/Activism and the Future of Cities / 2. From Emma Goldman to Riot Grrl, Sex Work, Autonomy and the Transformation of Streets / 3. Bridging the Divide between Queer Theory and Anarchism / 4. Harm Reduction as Pleasure Activism / 5. Revolutionary Games and Ludic Anarchism / 6. Squats, Primitive Accumulation and the Struggle for a Home in a Neoliberal City / 7. Dialectical Times: Cycling, Non-Polluting Transportation, and Urban Fortunes from Times Up to Right of Way! / 8. Public Spaces and Urban Vistas: From Gardens to Libraries and the Struggle against the Negative / 9. Urban Spaces as a Living Theater: Toward a Public Space Party for Poems, Art and Performance / 10. On a Dialectical Urban Activism:Concluding Thoughts on Public Space, Activist History and Theoretical Mergings
Benjamin Heim Shepard is an exuberant and indispensable chronicler of contemporary urban life and grassroots organizing. With this volume, he brings together the energy of the street and the nuances of theory to produce a fascinating account of how activists are contesting and redefining urbanism for our time. — L.A. Kauffman, Author of Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism
This volume is an epic and essential activist primer exploring the many current Social Movements with a serious personal investment as well as a sense of humor. Ben is not only a dedicated activist but also a scholar, historian and a very gifted writer. He tackles a huge range of issues but is able to give them a coherence and context which ultimately makes the whole greater than the parts. A celebration of the activism of everyday life!— Fly-O, Comic Book Artist and Illustrator; Peops: Portraits and Stories
How can we build and sustain community in urban neighborhoods? Ben Shepard deftly melds centuries of theory and decades of insights from seasoned activists to produce compelling answers. Shepard playfully paints vibrant portraits of potent campaigns to reclaim and remake public spaces for the common good. From mobilizations to protect affordable housing, community gardens, bike lanes, and public health, to innovative efforts to create economic and social justice for all, Shepard forges viable pathways towards a desirable 21st century. A must read for engaged scholars and activists seeking to make a sustainable urbanism.
— Ron Hayduk, Professor, San Francisco State University
In this well-written account, Benjamin Shepard shows how publics, places, and propitious moments combine to reveal the dialectical interplay between urban order and resistance. Shepard skillfully invokes the work of revolutionary thinkers and activists, such as Marx, Lukacs and Goldman to elucidate his case studies. He delivers a host of concise, colorful narratives about practicable public spaces, while relating a bigger story about the city, where contest is the requisite buy-in for personal and collective freedom.
— Anthony Maniscalco, Author of Public Spaces, Marketplaces, and the Constitution
A great read, full of hope and progress from an activist who dives deep into the struggle in the city that never sleeps. While sharing both theory and action, Shepard's book is serious fun, powerfully framed by mutual aid, the feeling of immediacy and his awareness of the effectiveness of protest.
— Wendy E. Brawer, Founding Director, Green Map System