Azerbaijani Women, Online Mediatized Activism and Offline Mass Mobilization
Despite its post-Soviet history, Azerbaijan is an under-investigated country in academic research—compared with the other former constituencies, such as the Baltic countries or Russia, of the USSR—and gender questions of the contemporary Azerbaijani society are even less touched on. Within the curre...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2016-10-01
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| Series: | Social Sciences |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/4/60 |
| _version_ | 1828273663197052928 |
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| author | Ilkin Mehrabov |
| author_facet | Ilkin Mehrabov |
| author_sort | Ilkin Mehrabov |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite its post-Soviet history, Azerbaijan is an under-investigated country in academic research—compared with the other former constituencies, such as the Baltic countries or Russia, of the USSR—and gender questions of the contemporary Azerbaijani society are even less touched on. Within the current context of the post-“Arab Spring” era of mediatized connectivity and collective political engagement, this article looks into and analyzes how Azerbaijani women participate in different online and offline social and political movements, and if (and how) they are impeded by the increased state authoritarianism in Azerbaijan. Using data, obtained from online information resources, yearly reports of human rights organizations, focus group discussions, and interviews, the study detects four major activist constellations within the Azerbaijani field of gendered politics. Based on the analysis of conditions of detected groups, the article claims that flash mobs, a tactic employed mainly by liberal activists, emerge as the promising way in overcoming the normative nature of Azerbaijani patriarchal society, thus providing an opportunity for normalization and internalization of the feeling of being on the street and acting in concert with others—the practices which might lead towards an increasing participation of (especially young) women in the political processes of the country. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:24:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0e37ecb480ea41cc8dabea4aefce560d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0760 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:24:14Z |
| publishDate | 2016-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-0e37ecb480ea41cc8dabea4aefce560d2022-12-22T02:58:30ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602016-10-01546010.3390/socsci5040060socsci5040060Azerbaijani Women, Online Mediatized Activism and Offline Mass MobilizationIlkin Mehrabov0Geography, Media and Communication Studies, Karlstad University, Universitetsgatan 2, Karlstad 65188, SwedenDespite its post-Soviet history, Azerbaijan is an under-investigated country in academic research—compared with the other former constituencies, such as the Baltic countries or Russia, of the USSR—and gender questions of the contemporary Azerbaijani society are even less touched on. Within the current context of the post-“Arab Spring” era of mediatized connectivity and collective political engagement, this article looks into and analyzes how Azerbaijani women participate in different online and offline social and political movements, and if (and how) they are impeded by the increased state authoritarianism in Azerbaijan. Using data, obtained from online information resources, yearly reports of human rights organizations, focus group discussions, and interviews, the study detects four major activist constellations within the Azerbaijani field of gendered politics. Based on the analysis of conditions of detected groups, the article claims that flash mobs, a tactic employed mainly by liberal activists, emerge as the promising way in overcoming the normative nature of Azerbaijani patriarchal society, thus providing an opportunity for normalization and internalization of the feeling of being on the street and acting in concert with others—the practices which might lead towards an increasing participation of (especially young) women in the political processes of the country.http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/4/60Azerbaijanoppressive politicspolitical oppositionsurveillancewomen activists |
| spellingShingle | Ilkin Mehrabov Azerbaijani Women, Online Mediatized Activism and Offline Mass Mobilization Social Sciences Azerbaijan oppressive politics political opposition surveillance women activists |
| title | Azerbaijani Women, Online Mediatized Activism and Offline Mass Mobilization |
| title_full | Azerbaijani Women, Online Mediatized Activism and Offline Mass Mobilization |
| title_fullStr | Azerbaijani Women, Online Mediatized Activism and Offline Mass Mobilization |
| title_full_unstemmed | Azerbaijani Women, Online Mediatized Activism and Offline Mass Mobilization |
| title_short | Azerbaijani Women, Online Mediatized Activism and Offline Mass Mobilization |
| title_sort | azerbaijani women online mediatized activism and offline mass mobilization |
| topic | Azerbaijan oppressive politics political opposition surveillance women activists |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/4/60 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ilkinmehrabov azerbaijaniwomenonlinemediatizedactivismandofflinemassmobilization |