Based on 15 months of ethnographic research in the city of Alto Hospicio in northern Chile, this book describes how the residents use social media, and the consequences of this use in their daily lives. Nell Haynes argues that social media is a place where Alto Hospicio’s residents – or Hospiceños – express their feelings of marginalisation that result from living in city far from the national capital, and with a notoriously low quality of life compared to other urban areas in Chile.
In actively distancing themselves from residents in cities such as Santiago, Hospiceños identify as marginalised citizens, and express a new kind of social norm. Yet Haynes finds that by contrasting their own lived experiences with those of people in metropolitan areas, Hospiceños are strengthening their own sense of community and the sense of normativity that shapes their daily lives. This exciting conclusion is illustrated by the range of social media posts about personal relationships, politics and national citizenship, particularly on Facebook.
Praise for Social Media in Northern Chile
'[This book makes] a necessary intervention in a field that has been traditionally focused on Western contexts and by extension, Western platforms.'
Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society
Nell Haynes is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the American University in 2013. Her research addresses themes of performance, authenticity, globalisation, and gendered and ethnic identification in Bolivia and Chile.
Introduction: Online and on the Margins in Alto Hospicio, Chile
The Social Media Landscape: Performing Citizenship
Online
Visual Posting: The Aesethics of Alto Hospicio
Relationships: Creating Authenticity on Social Media
Work and Gender: Producing Normativity and Gendered Selves
The Wider World: Imagining Community in Alto Hospicio
Conclusion: The Extraordinary Ordinariness of Alto Hospicio
'[This book makes] a necessary intervention in a field that has been traditionally focused on Western contexts and by extension, Western platforms.'
Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society
Format: Open Access HTML
230 Pages
ISBN: 9781910634592
Publication: June 06, 2016
Series: Why We Post 4
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