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The Popular Politics of Sociality in Low-Income Internet Use in Tunis, Tunisia
Abstract
Although Tunisia is hailed as the sole democratic success story to emerge from the Arab revolutionary uprisings that began in 2010-2011, many residents in low-income neighborhoods of the capital argue that the conditions that fueled the uprising have not improved: rising prices, worsening unemployment and continuing police repression. During the same period, internet use has also soared in these neighborhoods. Analysis of Tunisia’s revolutionary uprising points to social media as providing opportunities for mobilization in an authoritarian context in which organized political opposition had been fiercely repressed. It is thus important to consider the politics that may emerge from incipient internet use among low-income Tunisians. My early dissertation research (2015) in a low-income area of Tunis has found that nearly all children and youth now access the internet to some degree, using mobile phones when they do not own tablets and computers. Area internet café users range from ages 3 to over 50 years old, and nearly half of them are girls and women. Research on political dissent in Arab-majority countries has argued that politics may not always take the form of social movements found in less repressive contexts. Additionally, anthropologists and other researchers have sought to identify forms of popular politics that do not conform to either the formal politics of elections or even the resistance narratives commonly attributed to social movements. Although my research focuses on an area where revolutionary protests first erupted in the capital of Tunis – the popular neighborhoods of Hay Ettadhamon – the study of quotidian internet use allows for empirical assessment of the overall impact of the medium rather than focusing on actors who are fluent in circulating political language. The paper explores the popular politics that emerge in various kinds of relationships on Facebook and Skype, the two most popular social media sites in Tunisia. At issue are three main political arenas: (1) forms of local associational life that are both strengthened and undermined by social media; (2) the nationalist dynamics of Tunisian dialect written in both Latin and Arabic script; and (3) the politics of encounter with strangers abroad, often sought out in pursuit of migration, and facilitated by Google Translate. Analysis for this paper draws upon interviews with over 100 residents; in-depth interviews with 40 key participants; research in internet cafes and computer science classes in area public schools; and online participant observation on Facebook.
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Tunisia
Sub Area
Information Technology/Computing