Networked Publics and Digital Contention: The Politics of Everyday Life in Tunisia

Networked Publics and Digital Contention: The Politics of Everyday Life in Tunisia

To cite this publication: Mohamed Zayani, Networked Publics and Digital Contention: The Politics of Everyday Life in Tunisia (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2015).

How is the adoption of digital media in the Arab world affecting the relationship between the state and its subjects? What new forms of online engagement and strategies of resistance have emerged from the aspirations of digitally empowered citizens? This book tells the compelling story of the concurrent evolution of technology and society in the Middle East. It brings into focus the intricate relationship between Internet development, youth activism, cyber resistance, and political participation. Taking Tunisia – the birthplace of the Arab uprisings – as a case study, it offers an ethnographically nuanced and theoretically grounded analysis of the digital culture of contention that developed in an authoritarian context. It broadens the focus from narrow debates about the role that social media played in the Arab uprisings toward a fresh understanding of how changes in media affect existing power relations. Read more from Oxford University Press.

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The 2016 ICA Best Book Award

The 2016 Toyin Falola Africa Book Award

The 2017 ASA Award

The 2017 Sue DeWine Distinguished Scholarly Book Award