Publication:
SYRIAN ONLINE SPACES OF POSSIBILITIES: ALTERNATIVE AND ACTIVIST MEDIA FOR DIALOGUE AND RECONCILIATION

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorMari Castañeda
dc.contributor.advisorEmily E. West
dc.contributor.advisorMarwan M. Kraidy
dc.contributor.advisorOmar Dahi
dc.contributor.authorAlhayek, Katty
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst
dc.date2024-03-27T18:47:53.000
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-26T15:46:44Z
dc.date.available2026-09-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.submittedSeptember
dc.date.submitted2021
dc.description.abstractThis research project examines small-scale media initiatives that promote counter-sectarian narratives and more inclusive discourse in displaced and war-affected communities. I call these initiatives “online spaces of possibilities,” which I define as fields of cultural production that offer a culture of possibilities embedded in the actual online and offline practices of media producers and audiences, who navigate capitalist technological structures and violent cultural environments to produce positive affect of affinities and connections in war and displacement contexts. In this dissertation, I explore two major research questions: how do displaced media producers use digital media to engage with displaced audiences across the political spectrum; and how do marginalized, displaced audiences use digital media to wield power and cope with unjust life conditions. I examine displaced media producers’ strategies of transformative possibilities to engage with displaced audiences across the political spectrum through seven case studies: Enab Baladi, Radio Rozana, ARTA FM, Radio Souriat, Syrische Frauen in Deutschland, Let’s Stand Again, and Diaspora Kitchen. To show the ways in which marginalized, displaced audiences use digital media to wield power and cope with unjust life conditions, I examine as case studies the audiences of three social media initiatives (Syrische Frauen in Deutschland, Let’s Stand Again, and Diaspora Kitchen). I analyze the audiences of these social media initiatives as diasporic networked counterpublics. Methodologically, I develop a multi-methodology approach that combines decolonial methodology, community-engaged participatory research approach, and ethics as method approach. I conducted this research fieldwork intermittently over 4 years (2018-2021). My main method is 83 online and offline interviews, supported by online and offline ethnography, and document analysis. Throughout this study, I show that in a cultural environment dominated by ideology, violence, and polarization, “online spaces of possibilities” produce a culture of possibilities that is enabling because it empowers media producers and audiences to engage cognitively and emotionally in pursuing and achieving media projects and goals to alleviate the inequalities and injustices that shape their communities’ everyday experiences. However, it is also constraining because it is shaped under regimes of power in their homeland and diaspora which includes authoritarianism, platform capitalism, and racism.
dc.description.degreeDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
dc.description.departmentCommunication
dc.description.embargo2026-09-01T00:00:00-07:00
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.7275/23789966
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1108-5399
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/18561
dc.relation.urlhttps://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3343&context=dissertations_2&unstamped=1
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.source.statuspublished
dc.subjectMedia
dc.subjectSyria
dc.subjectactivism
dc.subjectgender
dc.subjectdecolonial methodology
dc.subjectethics
dc.subjectfood
dc.subjectempowerment
dc.subjectCommunication
dc.subjectCommunication Technology and New Media
dc.subjectCritical and Cultural Studies
dc.subjectGender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication
dc.subjectInternational and Intercultural Communication
dc.subjectSocial and Behavioral Sciences
dc.subjectSocial Media
dc.titleSYRIAN ONLINE SPACES OF POSSIBILITIES: ALTERNATIVE AND ACTIVIST MEDIA FOR DIALOGUE AND RECONCILIATION
dc.typeopenaccess
dc.typearticle
dc.typedissertation
digcom.contributor.authorisAuthorOfPublication|email:katty.alhayek@gmail.com|institution:University of Massachusetts Amherst|Alhayek, Katty
digcom.date.embargo2026-09-01T00:00:00-07:00
digcom.identifierdissertations_2/2252
digcom.identifier.contextkey23789966
digcom.identifier.submissionpathdissertations_2/2252
dspace.entity.typePublication
Files
Collections
Dissertations