Rethinking Revolutionary Processes: What is the Digital Difference? -
Network Power - Identity and Class.
Roundtable - November 24th 11-2 (12.00 - 15.00)
Speakers: Tim Jordan (KCL), John Postill (Sheffield Hallam), Joss Hands
(Anglia Ruskin University), Miriyam Aouragh (Oxford University), Anne Alexander (Cambridge University), Jonny Jones (International Socialism Journal)
Do the events of the 'Arab Spring' and the associated global wave of
protest confirm the dominant paradigm of the 'network society' proposed by
Manuel Castells. The idea that these are 'networked revolutions', is a
powerful one, which is enhanced by the visible role of digital social media
in both transmitting symbols of protest across space and time, and
connecting activists in way which appears very different to the experience
of pre-digital revolutionary moments.
However, the development of classic
revolutionary processes in countries such as Tunisia and Egypt also
suggests that other analytical frameworks may be more effective lenses
through which to understand both the revolutions themselves and the role of
digital social media within them. In particular the role of strikes and
workers' protests in both the Egyptian and Tunisian cases poses the
question of whether we need to return to ideas of class and other
conceptualisations of the collective to capture the dynamics of these
processes?
Similarly, while many see digital social media has playing a crucial role
in the revolutionary processes currently unfolding, this is an important
moment to ask exactly what is the 'digital difference' compared to previous
waves of regional and global protest?
This roundtable will connect these two questions to explore the potential
for developing new agendas for research on the relationship between social
media and protest in an era shaped by crisis and revolution.
Speakers: Tim Jordan (KCL), John Postill (Sheffield Hallam), Joss Hands
(Anglia Ruskin University), Miriyam Aouragh (Oxford University), Anne Alexander (Cambridge University), Jonny Jones (International Socialism Journal)
This unique seminar comes after the CRASSH 'Communication Power in the Network
Society' Symposion at Campridge University with Professor Manuel Castells in which
the Roundtable organisers are involved as well. http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/1737/
Image, courtesy Anne Alexander [text: Go down into the Streets!]
