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The dotcom boom may well have come and gone but information and communication technologies (ICTs) are now an inescapable part of both everyday life and world politics. In this close-up study of several longstanding Internet discussion forums, M.I. Franklin explores the form and substance of everyday life online. The author traces how non-Western diasporas use the Internet to talk productively about local and global politics, cultural issues, and identity in an era dominated by neoliberal globalization. The openings for intercultural and intracultural empowerment, online and also on the ground, that emerge through ordinary people's uses of the Internet are being squeezed out, however, by powerful political economic and sociocultural interests from above and below. Franklin argues that a closer look at the content and communicative styles of these Pacific traversals online suggest other Internet futures; more hospitable, culturally inclusive and economically equitable than the one currently being put in place by vested economic interests and political power elites. This book will be of interest to students of international relations, social sciences, cultural studies, science and technology studies.
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Postcolonial Politics, the Internet, and Everyday Life
Contemporary Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) are now an inescapable part of everyday life as well as an integral element to large scale political-economic change. In this close-up study of pioneering and longstanding Internet discussion forums, M. I. Franklin explores the practice of everyday life online. The author traces the online practices and discussion content produced by postcolonial and diasporic communities as they (re)articulate gendered, political, ethnic and cultural dimensions to life for postcolonial societies on-the-ground. In a neoliberal global era, however, possibilities for intercultural and intracultural empowerment evident in the postcolonial politics of representation of these communities have to contend with new and entrenched politicaleconomic and sociocultural pressures from all sides. Franklin argues that these Pacific traversals in public, open cyberspace trace another possible future for the Internet; more hospitable and equitable than the one currently being put in place by large corporations. This book will be of interest to students of international relations/ international political economy, anthropology, cultural studies, science and technology studies. Marianne Franklin is Assistant Professor of Social and Political Theory at the University for Humanist Studies Utrecht, The Netherlands. She also lectures in the International Relations and Social Sciences Masters programmes at the International School for Humanities and Social Sciences (ISHSS) of the University of Amsterdam.
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