QUESTION: Research on the use of Manifestos, Charters and Declarations for movement building in the U.S. and globally

question / pregunta: 

Hello! I am looking for research, anecdotal information and/or evaluation of the use and results of using organizing tools like manifestos, peoples' charters, declarations, etc. as organizing and movement-building tools. Thank you!

A few things that might help?

I'm not sure if you are interested in the historic significance of manifestos and declarations as organizing tools, or whether you're interested in information about whether creating your own documentation might be a valuable exercise?

Here's a bit of what I found in terms of the history of manifestos:

I did some searching in a few catalogs and found that there is a subject heading Political Manifestoes (and you could also try Literary Manifestoes as well?). For example, here's a list of books that come up with that heading in Worldcat: (and one thing I noticed in searching is the alternate spelling between manifesto/es.)

Overall it looks like there are a number of works that discuss one particular group's publications/documentation, and their significance, but little has been collected as a whole, to talk about the larger significance of such works and publications (but I would certainly be interested in that book if you end up writing it!) ...

Alternatively, you might want to take a look at a particular group that created the kinds of works you are interested in--political or artistic (movements like the dadas or surrealists loved manifestos), etc.--and search by the name of the group for a particular account of how these documents have been used? A book about the Diggers might tell you how they used their declarations, etc.?

Finally, there might be other terms to search for that might encompass similar ideas for organizing (but might be a little less radical--like mission statements or vision statements?), or you might think about the medium or way that these items circulated and use those words in a catalog or search engine (pamphlets, posters, the web, etc.)?

Let us know more about what you are interested in and hopefully the Rad Ref collective can offer further suggestions.

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