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<p>Announcing the latest title in Open Humanities Press'
Combinatorial Books: Gathering Flowers series, which is edited by
Janneke Adema, Simon Bowie, Gary Hall and Rebekka Kiesewetter:</p>
<p><i><br>
</i></p>
<p><i>Publishing Activism within/without a Toxic University</i></p>
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<p class="creators">edited by the Radical Open Access Collective</p>
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<p></p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/publishing-activism-within-without-a-toxic-university/">https://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/publishing-activism-within-without-a-toxic-university/</a><br>
</p>
<p>Co-published by Post Office Press (POP) (<a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://hcommons.org/members/pop/">https://hcommons.org/members/pop/</a>)
and Open Humanities Press, this experimental booklet brings
together reflections from Radical Open Access (<a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://radicaloa.postdigitalcultures.org/">https://radicaloa.postdigitalcultures.org/</a>)
members on publishing activism and its relationship to the
neoliberal university. Created as a side project to the Radical
Open Access III: From Openness to Social Justice Activism
conference (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://radicaloa.postdigitalcultures.org/conferences/radicaloa3/">https://radicaloa.postdigitalcultures.org/conferences/radicaloa3/</a>),
it explores how publishing can respond to the ongoing crisis in
higher education. The authors ask: How can we – as scholars,
publishers and activists – engage with a university in perpetual
crisis? How can we practice publishing activism within/without a
toxic institution?<br>
<br>
Inspired by the cadavre exquis technique of the Surrealists, the
booklet adapts and (ab)uses this method to foster collaborative,
responsive writing. It shows how multiple, potentially conflicting
voices can coalesce around a shared crisis and move activist
strategies forward in new ways.<br>
<br>
It draws from three key ROAC titles published under open licenses:
The Undercommons (Minor Compositions: <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.minorcompositions.info/">https://www.minorcompositions.info/</a>),
Luescher, Klemenčič, and Jowi’s Student Politics in Africa
(African Minds: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/9781928331223_txt.pdf">https://www.africanminds.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/9781928331223_txt.pdf</a>),
and Conio’s (ed.) Occupy: A People Yet to Come (Open Humanities
Press: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://openhumanitiespress.org/books/download/Conio_2015_Occupy-A-People-Yet-To-Come.pdf">https://openhumanitiespress.org/books/download/Conio_2015_Occupy-A-People-Yet-To-Come.pdf</a>).
These works, reflecting on protest, activism and student politics,
served as a starting point for examining higher education through
the lens of social justice publishing activism. The first text in
the booklet directly responds to these books, initiating a chain
of responses, each written within ten days. Contributors extended
the preceding response, engaging with the booklet’s theme and,
optionally, the ROAC back-catalogue. Designed by Alex Trencianska,
Mia Dawson, and Lisha Wang, the booklet was 'unfolded' during the
3rd Radical Open Access Conference.<br>
</p>
<p>Editor Bio<br>
<br>
Formed in 2015, the Radical Open Access Collective is a community
of scholar-led, not-for-profit presses, journals and other open
access projects. Now consisting of more than 80 members, we
promote a progressive vision for open publishing in the humanities
and social sciences. What we have in common is an understanding of
open access as being characterised by a spirit of ongoing creative
experimentation. We also share a willingness to subject some of
our most established scholarly communication practices to creative
critique, together with the institutions that sustain them (the
university, the library, the publishing house, and so on). The
collective thus offers a radical ‘alternative’ to the conservative
versions of open access that are currently being put forward by
commercially-oriented presses, funders, and policy makers.</p>
<p>Like all Open Humanities Press titles, <i>Publishing Activism
within/without a Toxic University</i> is available open access
(and can be downloaded for free): <br>
</p>
<p> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/publishing-activism-within-without-a-toxic-university/">https://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/publishing-activism-within-without-a-toxic-university/</a></p>
<p></p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Gary Hall
Professor of Media
Centre for Postdigital Cultures, Coventry University:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://postdigitalcultures.org/about/">https://postdigitalcultures.org/about/</a>
Director of Open Humanities Press: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.openhumanitiespress.org">http://www.openhumanitiespress.org</a>
Website <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.garyhall.info">http://www.garyhall.info</a>
Blog: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://garyhall.squarespace.com/journal/">http://garyhall.squarespace.com/journal/</a>
Latest:
Book: Masked Media: What It Means to Be Human in the Age of Artificial Creative Intelligence: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/masked-media/">http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/masked-media/</a>
Blog post: 'So That's Where Theory's Got To - It's Living Above The Shop': <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://garyhall.squarespace.com/journal/2025/5/15/so-thats-where-theorys-got-to-its-living-above-the-shop.html?SSScrollPosition=134">http://garyhall.squarespace.com/journal/2025/5/15/so-thats-where-theorys-got-to-its-living-above-the-shop.html?SSScrollPosition=134</a>
</pre>
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