(Online) Politics from below in sub-Saharan Africa
Pype, Katrien
(Online) Politics from below in sub-Saharan Africa - 2021.
73
This article provides an overview of the academic literature on political engagement and belonging in “digital Africa,” a term used to describe the digitally mediated lifeworlds of sub-Saharan Africans and those in the diaspora. The digital is increasingly becoming a site of public expression and civic agency in sub-Saharan Africa. Three premises undergird much of this body of research: (1) citizenship is understood to be a flexible category, malleable, negotiable, and to be played with; (2) the digital space provides a peculiar, “different” terrain for political action, “different” from the political stakes of “non digital,” oral, written, and performed popular culture, even when broadcast on radio or television; and (3) the digital itself can become a site through which questions of citizenship are posed.
(Online) Politics from below in sub-Saharan Africa - 2021.
73
This article provides an overview of the academic literature on political engagement and belonging in “digital Africa,” a term used to describe the digitally mediated lifeworlds of sub-Saharan Africans and those in the diaspora. The digital is increasingly becoming a site of public expression and civic agency in sub-Saharan Africa. Three premises undergird much of this body of research: (1) citizenship is understood to be a flexible category, malleable, negotiable, and to be played with; (2) the digital space provides a peculiar, “different” terrain for political action, “different” from the political stakes of “non digital,” oral, written, and performed popular culture, even when broadcast on radio or television; and (3) the digital itself can become a site through which questions of citizenship are posed.
Réseaux sociaux