Community development, bricolage, and celebrity-driven activism: A case study of Half the Sky movement

ABSTRACT

Celebrity journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn launched Half the Sky, a book exploring the feasibility of mass-awareness and community-based campaigning platforms. The book, which created a grassroots feminist movement for women in the Global South, had broad cultural effects, with the publisher launching a 25^th hardcopy print run within a year of its 2009 release. The Half the Sky movement lasted over a decade, maintaining momentum via the recruitment of public figures like Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton, and the Gates Family. While recognizing its methods and premises are not without issues, we focus on how activists and campaigners employed entrepreneurial, network and collaborative-social bricolage tactics and strategies regardless of the campaign targets. We utilize an extended case study of the book, movement, and celebrity-led activism to support the analysis of these tactics and strategies and to propose a more sustainable approach for community-based social change.

KEYWORDS:

• Half the Sky
• celebrity
• entrepreneurial bricolage
• community development
• activism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The full title of the book is Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Kristof & WuDunn 2009a). The movement that runs in tandem with the book is called the Half the Sky movement. Throughout this article, both will be referred to as Half the Sky (HTS) unless a specific distinction is required between the book and other parts of the movement.

2. Winfrey has a phenomenon named after her – The “Oprah Effect” – which refers to the power and influence of her endorsement potential. For example, when Winfrey was on daily television, she had “Oprah’s Bookclub” where she promoted authors and their works. Almost all books endorsed by Winfrey became immediate bestsellers (Minzesheimer, 2011, n.p.). Kristof appeared on “Oprah’s Bookclub” in 2009.