Browse Subject Headings
Social Media Tribes : Jordan's Bedouin and the Margins of the State
Social Media Tribes : Jordan's Bedouin and the Margins of the State
Click to enlarge
Author(s): Hughes, Geoffrey F.
ISBN No.: 9781477334713
Pages: 240
Year: 202610
Format: Trade Cloth (Hard Cover)
Price: $ 154.25
Dispatch delay: Dispatched between 7 to 15 days
Status: Available (Forthcoming)

An examination of the uses of social media in Jordan through the experiences of Bedouin tribespeople. It has become something of a cliché to say that social media is making us tribal. But what do self-styled tribespeople themselves think about social media, and how might they help us better understand the role of the internet in our current political moment? Drawing on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork among Bedouin in Jordan, Social Media Tribes underscores the varied but broadly intelligible ways in which distinctive groups domesticate social media to suit their needs. Organized around key concepts in Bedouin life (including tribalism, envy, and mercy), Social Media Tribes moves between Facebook-mediated tribal truces, upstart online media platforms, palatial urban villas where self-appointed sheikhs dispense justice, and street clashes organized over WhatsApp in rural communities ignored by state development projects. A meticulous researcher and insightful participant-observer, Geoffrey Hughes reframes social media as part of a global renegotiation of the state-society divide that both preceded the emergence of social media platforms and, in turn, feeds off of them. In this telling, the internet represents a new frontier that, like older frontiers, heralds both novel freedoms and novel forms of social control.


To be able to view the table of contents for this publication then please subscribe by clicking the button below...
To be able to view the full description for this publication then please subscribe by clicking the button below...
Browse Subject Headings