Reading Justice Claims on Social Media: Perspectives from the Global South
Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2024), xxi, 326 pp.
Contains 46 illustrations, index
ISBN 978-3-031-53850-6 (ebook); 978-3-031-53849-0 (print)
"This book explores how unresolved questions of social justice shape the character of the political terrain and political actors, through the lens of social media. It treats communication as the medium through which social issues and processes are made visible. Given the rise and spread of populist politics, the views of ordinary people on social issues have never mattered more. One platform through which these voices can be studied extensively is social media. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter now X, YouTube, and Instagram, among others, afford ordinary citizens-often marginalized by traditional mainstream media-space to vent their opinions, engage in discussions of whatever topic, share information and ideas, and explore various kinds of information as well as data, links to which are often provided through various macro and micro discursive spaces therein. Arguably, therefore, social media have become a quintessential platform for studying contemporary sociality. Social media must be studied not just as a communication platform, but one through which the social world, social processes and social issues are made visible and, in some cases, enacted. With rich case studies from the Global South, and a particular focus on Africa, this collection does just that." (Publisher description)
1 Introduction: The Challenge of Social Justice in Contemporary Society / Cleophas Taurai Muneri and Phillip Santos, 1
2 Theorizing Promise and Pitfalls of Social Media and its Implications to Social Justice and Democratization / Cleophas Taurai Muneri, 19
3 Decolonizing Identitarian Essentialism in Asian American Social Media Activism / Anh Nguyen, 45
4 Memorial Museums in Guatemala: Social Media and the Notion of ‘Never Again’ / Martha Galvan Mandujano and JoAnn DiGeorgio-Lutz, 67
5 A Decolonial and Social Justice Reading of the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter Cyber Protest: Or When Black Lives Should Matter to Our Selves / Khulekani Ndlovu, 91
6 Role of Social Media in Indian ‘Nationalism’ and ‘National Identity’ in Twenty-First Century: Case Study of India / Ankita and Bhavana Kumari, 125
7 A Discursive Struggle Triggered by the ‘Arrival’ of the ‘Other’ and the Insecurity of the ‘Mainstream’ as Played Out in the Ethiopian Digital Media Sphere / Abdissa Zerai, 149
8 Twitter, Social Justice and White Land Compensation Discourses in Zimbabwe / Tichaona Zindoga and Wellington Gadzikwa, 175
9 Female Voices against ‘Femicide’ in South Africa and Nigeria: Facebook and Twitter (now X) as Hubs for Social Justice / Tshepang Bright Molale and Moses Ofome Asak, 211
10 Twitter Deliberations on Justice in the Aftermath of the Deaths of Perpetrators of Mass Atrocities in Zimbabwe / Mphathisi Ndlovu and Mthokozisi Phathisani Ndhlovu, 237
11 ‘I am Tyler Perry, I endorse the #EndSARS protest’: An Examination of the Use of Parody Accounts in the Fight for Social Justice in Nigeria / Trust Matsilele and Itunu Ayodeji Bodunrin, 261
12 Critical Realism, Truth and the Journalistic Mediation of Social Justice Issues / Khulekani Ndlovu and Phillip Santos, 289
2 Theorizing Promise and Pitfalls of Social Media and its Implications to Social Justice and Democratization / Cleophas Taurai Muneri, 19
3 Decolonizing Identitarian Essentialism in Asian American Social Media Activism / Anh Nguyen, 45
4 Memorial Museums in Guatemala: Social Media and the Notion of ‘Never Again’ / Martha Galvan Mandujano and JoAnn DiGeorgio-Lutz, 67
5 A Decolonial and Social Justice Reading of the #ZimbabweanLivesMatter Cyber Protest: Or When Black Lives Should Matter to Our Selves / Khulekani Ndlovu, 91
6 Role of Social Media in Indian ‘Nationalism’ and ‘National Identity’ in Twenty-First Century: Case Study of India / Ankita and Bhavana Kumari, 125
7 A Discursive Struggle Triggered by the ‘Arrival’ of the ‘Other’ and the Insecurity of the ‘Mainstream’ as Played Out in the Ethiopian Digital Media Sphere / Abdissa Zerai, 149
8 Twitter, Social Justice and White Land Compensation Discourses in Zimbabwe / Tichaona Zindoga and Wellington Gadzikwa, 175
9 Female Voices against ‘Femicide’ in South Africa and Nigeria: Facebook and Twitter (now X) as Hubs for Social Justice / Tshepang Bright Molale and Moses Ofome Asak, 211
10 Twitter Deliberations on Justice in the Aftermath of the Deaths of Perpetrators of Mass Atrocities in Zimbabwe / Mphathisi Ndlovu and Mthokozisi Phathisani Ndhlovu, 237
11 ‘I am Tyler Perry, I endorse the #EndSARS protest’: An Examination of the Use of Parody Accounts in the Fight for Social Justice in Nigeria / Trust Matsilele and Itunu Ayodeji Bodunrin, 261
12 Critical Realism, Truth and the Journalistic Mediation of Social Justice Issues / Khulekani Ndlovu and Phillip Santos, 289
