Full Description
First comprehensive account of how the Internet has impacted life in Iran.
Social Media in Iran is the first book to tell the complex story of how and why the Iranian people-including women, homosexuals, dissidents, artists, and even state actors-use social media technology, and in doing so create a contentious environment wherein new identities and realities are constructed. Drawing together emerging and established scholars in communication, culture, and media studies, this volume considers the role of social media in Iranian society, particularly the time during and after the controversial 2009 presidential election, a watershed moment in the postrevolutionary history of Iran. While regional specialists may find studies on specific themes useful, the aim of this volume is to provide broad narratives of actor-based conceptions of media technology, an approach that focuses on the experiential and social networking processes of digital practices in the information era extended beyond cultural specificities. Students and scholars of regional and media studies will find this volume rich with empirical and theoretical insights on the subject of how technologies shape political and everyday life.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
David M. Faris and Babak Rahimi
Part I. Societal
1. Facebook Iran: Social Capital and the Iranian Social Media
Jari Eloranta, Hossein Kermani, and Babak Rahimi
2. Gender Roles in the Social Media World of Iranian Women
Elham Gheytanchi
3. The Role of Social Media in the Lives of Gay Iranians
Abouzar Nasirzadeh
4. Disabled Iranians on Social Media: Reflections on the Empowering Experiences of the Iranian PWDs in the Blogosphere
Kobra Elahifar
Part II. Politics
5. The Politics of Online Journalism in Iran
Marcus Michaelsen
6. The Persian Blogosphere in Dissent
Arash Falasiri and Nazanin Ghanavizi
7. The Politics and Anti-Politics of Facebook in Context of the Iranian 2009 Presidential Elections and Beyond
Mohammad Sadeghi Esfahlani
8. Trans-spatial Public Action: The Geography of Iranian Post-Election Protests in the Age of Web 2.0
Reza Masoudi Nejad
9. Balatarin: Gatekeepers and the Politics of a Persian Social Media Site
Babak Rahimi and Nima Rassooli
10. Architectures of Control and Mobilization in Egypt and Iran
David M. Faris
11. Social Media and the Islamic Republic
Niki Akhavan
12. Political Memory and Social Media: The Case of Neda
Samira Rajabi
Part III. Culture
13. Iranian Cinema and Social Media
Michelle Langford
14. The Online Avant-Garde: Iranian Video Art and Its Technological Rebellion
Staci Gem Scheiwiller
Bibliography
Contributors
Index
