Tuesday, March 27, 2012

 

Bytes and Bodies: Social Media and Political Changes
- Merlyna Lim, Arizona State University

 

About the Seminar

Was Arab Spring social media driven? Was Egypt revolution a Facebook revolution? Was it a people revolution? Do social media promote democracy? Can it support repressive regimes?

 

Using the case of Arab Spring, particularly the example from Egypt, this presentation calls for a much more critical approach to the promise of social media. The social impacts of the internet/social media, or 'change' in society, are the result of the organic interaction between the technology and social, political, and cultural structures and relationships. Breaking away from both utopian and dystopian tendencies, this presentation shows that our understanding of the actual role of social media in political change should be anchored in relevant history and socio-political context.

 

Social media should be read beyond its role as a 'tool' but also as 'space' where various networks of communications and interactions that make up of social movement emerge, connect, collapse, and expand.

About the Speakers

Merlyna Lim is a faculty member of the School of Social Transformation and Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University. Her research and teaching interests revolve around cultural and political implications of media and communication technologies, including social media, in relations to globalization, democratization, and social change.