Social Media in Northern Chile

Posting the Extraordinarily Ordinary

Nell Haynes

ISBN: 9781910634592

Publication: June 06, 2016

Open Access PDF £0.00 Open Access HTML £0.00 Hardback £35.00 Paperback £15.00

What is this?

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

'Provides valuable insight into the ordinary lives of a community that is certainly marginalized, but not helpless ... The book would resonate with readers seeking to understand the pervasiveness of social media even among communities assumed most likely not to have access.'

Journal of Latin American and Caribbean anthropology

'[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

Journal of Latin American and Caribbean anthropology

Format: Open Access PDF

230 Pages

ISBN: 9781910634592

Publication: June 06, 2016

Series: Why We Post 4