Mobilizing Emotion, Not Knowledge

Carleton University’s Faculty of Public Affairs runs a story of my research, as follows:

Mobilizing Emotion, Not Knowledge

As Canada prepares for a federal election, Canada Research Chair Professor Merlyna Lim is analyzing how social media users—human and otherwise—are mobilizing emotions rather than facts.

In the months leading up to the Canadian election, Facebook accounts with names like “Trudeau Has Got To Go”, “Overthrow Trudeau”, and Justin Trudeau is an Idiot” focus on ridiculing the Prime Minister.

On the opposite end of the political spectrum are accounts attacking Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, with names such as “Andrew Scheer Is An Idiot”, “Scheer Nonsense”, and “Schmeer 2019”.

Political cartoons and jokes are an age-old tradition. But Communication and Media Studies Professor Merlyna says that in the age of social media, hateful speech and misinformation spreads incredibly quickly—intensifying the polarization within politics.

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Disciplining Dissent: Freedom, Control, and Digital Activism in Southeast Asia

I just published a piece titled “Disciplining Dissent: Freedom, Control, and Digital Activism in Southeast Asia” [PDF].

Urbanized parts of Southeast Asia have been places with the most vibrant digital activism for the past two decades. And, yet, the region has been marginalized from “global accounts” of the role of digital media and activism that have predominantly emerged in the European and American context, with the exception of the Middle East which gained a temporal prominence immediately after the “Arab Spring”. This chapter attempts to sketch a comparative analysis of the relationship between digital media and politics in the region. Due to the diversity of contexts and non-linearity of political change, the question of the role(s) of digital media in supporting civil society and civic activism has no unequivocal resolution in the abstract. Rather, answers will emerge from the historical and societal experiences in specific local contexts. So, too, vary the realization of the roles of digital media to “liberate” civil society from the fetters of state control over media and communications as well as from “uncivil” elements within civil society itself. The distinctive constellations of forces at play underlie dramatically different cultural and sociopolitical configurations among the nation-states of this region. Experiences from Southeast Asia suggest that while digital media can have and has played an important role in political reform, it can equally play the role of furthering social divides. The role cannot be determined by technology itself, but rather by the interplay between technology and society, which while globally influenced is still substantially locally constituted.

This work is published as one of the chapters of the Routledge Handbook of Urbanization in Southeast Asia edited by Rita Padawangi.

Downloadable [in PDF] from:

(1) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329089698_Disciplining_Dissent_Freedom_Control_and_Digital_Activism_in_Southeast_Asia or

(2) https://carleton.ca/align/wp-content/uploads/Lim_DiscipliningDissent_2018.pdf

(3). https://merlyna.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/lim_discipliningdissent_2019.pdf

Challenging Technological Utopianism

I am truly excited to announce the publication of a special issue on “Challenging Technological Utopianism” in the Canadian Journal of Communication, Volume 43 No. 3.

https://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/…/issue/view/171/showToc

cjc_coverAll of the authors are affiliated with the communication program at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication in Ottawa, as graduate students and faculty members. This special issue is in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the program and it offers notable insight to mark the occasion.

It was a privilege to work with amazing scholars from my own academic home — they are great writers and critical thinkers as well as kind, generous, and decent human beings!

Continue reading “Challenging Technological Utopianism”

#Reformasi@20: The Internet and Politics in Indonesia

In preparing an essay for the month of May, where Indonesia marks the 20 years of “Reformasi”, I came across what the-much-younger-me published 16 years ago — my first publication, in my pre-doctoral-program-life, written while I was in nomad. I re-read it for the first time since it was published. Relieved to find out that it’s not embarrassing for my today’s standard 😉 Also, I am surprised to discover that it is still very relevant today. Here is an excerpt from its conclusion. Continue reading “#Reformasi@20: The Internet and Politics in Indonesia”

Freedom to Hate: Social Media, Algorithmic Enclaves, and the Rise of Tribal Nationalism in Indonesia

Sometimes, when emotion runs high, I take a really long walk, daydream, debate with myself, and then write a lot. Oh well, probably “write a lot” needs to be expanded to: sleep, write, write, write, sleep, sleep, sleep :-D. My latest article article was produced in one of such moments. Of course, this situation is neither an aberration nor a norm.  It is just it is.  Some other times,  I just sulk & watch a lot of Netflix movies or bang mellow songs on the piano & depress my office-mates ;-). Or just sleep a lot. Eh, not true. I do sleep a lot whether emotion runs low, high, or in-between. In sleep I trust, indeed ;-D

So, here is the article. As you can tell from its title, it’s a gloomy article.

Lim, M. (2017). Freedom to Hate: Social Media, Algorithmic Enclaves, and the Rise of Tribal Nationalism in Indonesia. Critical Asian Studies.
http://www.tandfonline.com/…/…/10.1080/14672715.2017.1341188

Continue reading “Freedom to Hate: Social Media, Algorithmic Enclaves, and the Rise of Tribal Nationalism in Indonesia”

Networked Politics

“[…] it is misleading to claim that online deliberation and online mobilization practices have really deepened democracy.”

“We want to emphasize that the Internet enables multiple, overlapped and diverse networked political spheres to emerge. These are contested spheres that are sometimes messy, chaotic, segmented and even anarchic. Not all of these aim to advance and deepen democracy, but within these convivial spheres individuals and groups have more chance to be political.”

Continue reading “Networked Politics”