The Voice of Silence: Patterns of Digital Participation Among Palestinian Women in East Jerusalem

Facebook is one of the world’s largest social networks, with more than 2,7 billion active users globally. It is also one of the most dominant platforms and one of the platforms most commonly used by Arabs. However, connecting via Facebook and sharing content cannot be taken for granted. While many s...

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Main Authors: Maya de Vries, Maya Majlaton
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cogitatio 2021-12-01
Series:Media and Communication
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/4391
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author Maya de Vries
Maya Majlaton
author_facet Maya de Vries
Maya Majlaton
author_sort Maya de Vries
collection DOAJ
description Facebook is one of the world’s largest social networks, with more than 2,7 billion active users globally. It is also one of the most dominant platforms and one of the platforms most commonly used by Arabs. However, connecting via Facebook and sharing content cannot be taken for granted. While many studies have focused on the role played by networked platforms in empowering women in the Arab world in general and on feminist movements in the Arab Spring, few have explored Palestinian women’s use of Facebook. During and after the Arab Spring, social media was used as a tool for freedom of expression in the Arab world. However, Palestinians in East Jerusalem using social media witnessed a decrease in freedom of expression, especially after the Gaza war in 2014. This article focuses on the Facebook usage patterns and political participation of young adult Palestinian women living in the contested space of East Jerusalem. These women live under dynamic power struggles as they belong to a traditionally conservative society, live within a situation of intractable conflict, and are under state control as a minority group. Qualitative thematic analysis of 13 in-depth interviews reveals three patterns of usage, all related to monitoring: state monitoring, kinship monitoring, and self-monitoring. The article conceptualises these online behaviours as “participation avoidance,” a term describing users’ (non-)communicative practices in which the mundane choices of when, why, and how to participate also mirror users’ choices of when, why, and how to avoid.
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spelling doaj.art-b98e61792060425a91380ef6a364d7292022-12-22T02:06:48ZengCogitatioMedia and Communication2183-24392021-12-019430931910.17645/mac.v9i4.43912320The Voice of Silence: Patterns of Digital Participation Among Palestinian Women in East JerusalemMaya de Vries0Maya Majlaton1Department of Communication and Journalism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, IsraelDepartment of Communication and Journalism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, IsraelFacebook is one of the world’s largest social networks, with more than 2,7 billion active users globally. It is also one of the most dominant platforms and one of the platforms most commonly used by Arabs. However, connecting via Facebook and sharing content cannot be taken for granted. While many studies have focused on the role played by networked platforms in empowering women in the Arab world in general and on feminist movements in the Arab Spring, few have explored Palestinian women’s use of Facebook. During and after the Arab Spring, social media was used as a tool for freedom of expression in the Arab world. However, Palestinians in East Jerusalem using social media witnessed a decrease in freedom of expression, especially after the Gaza war in 2014. This article focuses on the Facebook usage patterns and political participation of young adult Palestinian women living in the contested space of East Jerusalem. These women live under dynamic power struggles as they belong to a traditionally conservative society, live within a situation of intractable conflict, and are under state control as a minority group. Qualitative thematic analysis of 13 in-depth interviews reveals three patterns of usage, all related to monitoring: state monitoring, kinship monitoring, and self-monitoring. The article conceptualises these online behaviours as “participation avoidance,” a term describing users’ (non-)communicative practices in which the mundane choices of when, why, and how to participate also mirror users’ choices of when, why, and how to avoid.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/4391facebookisraeli-palestinian conflictjerusalemparticipationwomen
spellingShingle Maya de Vries
Maya Majlaton
The Voice of Silence: Patterns of Digital Participation Among Palestinian Women in East Jerusalem
Media and Communication
facebook
israeli-palestinian conflict
jerusalem
participation
women
title The Voice of Silence: Patterns of Digital Participation Among Palestinian Women in East Jerusalem
title_full The Voice of Silence: Patterns of Digital Participation Among Palestinian Women in East Jerusalem
title_fullStr The Voice of Silence: Patterns of Digital Participation Among Palestinian Women in East Jerusalem
title_full_unstemmed The Voice of Silence: Patterns of Digital Participation Among Palestinian Women in East Jerusalem
title_short The Voice of Silence: Patterns of Digital Participation Among Palestinian Women in East Jerusalem
title_sort voice of silence patterns of digital participation among palestinian women in east jerusalem
topic facebook
israeli-palestinian conflict
jerusalem
participation
women
url https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/4391
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