#HashtagActivism (The MIT Press), written by Northeastern University’s Brooke Foucault Welles (Communication Studies) and Moya Bailey (College of Social Science and Humanities) and Sarah Jackson of University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the McGannon Book Award. The McGannon Book Award is hosted by the McGannon Center of Fordham University, which is dedicated to furthering understanding of the ethical and social justice dimensions of media and communication technologies, particularly how such technologies affect the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within society.

The reviewers for the Book Award “unanimously felt that the book’s rigorous and interdisciplinary account of concerted and spontaneous online viral phenomena distinguished it from other book projects in communications research published in the past year. It stands out for the ways in which, methodically and empathetically, it explains the ways in which networks of black and brown people, women, and other historically subordinated groups have ‘birthed and nourished’ counterpublics on social media and helped to mobilize progressive social change. It uncovers the lived social impacts of communications technologies in ways that this award means to recognize and celebrate.”

In #HashtagActivism, which was published in March of 2020, the authors examine the rise of internet activism as evidenced by movements such as #SayHerName, #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter and #GirlsLikeUs and their effects on culture, climate and justice. Congratulations to the authors!