LINGUIST List 23.160 Tue Jan 10 2012 FYI: Social Media, Cultural Practices and Arab Spring Editor for this issue: Brent Miller <brentlinguistlist.org> To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.     Najma Al Zidjaly , Social Media, Cultural Practices and Arab Spring Message 1: Social Media, Cultural Practices and Arab Spring Date: 06-Jan-2012 From: Najma Al Zidjaly <najmazgmail.com> Subject: Social Media, Cultural Practices and Arab Spring E-mail this message to a friend Call for book chapters on Social Media,Cultural Practices and ''The Arab Spring:'' A Critical Linguistic and Multimodal Perspective Chapter Abstract Submission Deadline: February 14, 2012 Chapter Submission Deadline: June 15, 2012 Social Media, Cultural Practices and ''The Arab Spring:'' A Critical Linguistic and Multimodal Perspective A book edited by Najma Al Zidjaly Publisher: Oxford University Pres (OUP) has expressed interest in publishing this edited volume (However, no commitments have been made yet). Background: The news and entertainment media have had a great deal to say about the affordances of new media technologies (such as mobile phones and the Internet) and social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and localized media like Omani Sebla in Oman. Accordingly, myriad claims have been made regarding the ''beneficial'' role that social media (old and new) have played in facilitating political change in ''The Middle East'' and what has been termed ''The Arab Spring.'' Reciprocally, the popular press has made numerous claims about the role of such technologies in quashing uprisings and maintaining authoritative regimes. These unexamined views have led to a limited understanding of the events that have taken place in the Arab world. As the world marks the first anniversary of ''The Arab Spring,'' and in the wake of new details that do not build such a rosy picture of what has happened, it is incumbent upon scholars to empirically investigate and offer academic understandings of not just the role of social media in these events but also the reality of these events. Linguists, discourse analysts and researchers in related fields need to examine, discursively and multimodally, the social reality of “The Arab Spring” as experienced by Arab people in various countries and across a multitude of contexts. We need to critically investigate the role that new media technology (and other technologies) have played, and continues to play, in not just facilitating but also, perhaps in certain cases, pacifying or hindering the Arab ''Thawrat'' or ''Youthquakes.'' Description/Premise: The edited book is built upon the premise that social (and non-social) media are cultural tools used by social actors to create action; as all cultural tools, they have not just affordances but also limitations. Thus, this book, in contrast to other books on social media and Arab identity, is not a celebration of social media or the mainstream mono-view that portrays a simplistic and isolated view of ''The Arab Spring.'' Instead, its collective chapters examine how intricately people in various Arab countries use or have used social media, flyers and banners, other artifacts, discourse and language to promote and/or pacify protests, and to negotiate their identities, current, past and future. The volume’s purpose is to highlight the agency of the social actors involved in the current events sweeping across Arab countries, and to offer unique and nuanced perspectives that do not take for granted ungrounded claims propagated by the news media. It rather questions through analyzing discursive and non- discursive data these mainstream views, highlighting human agency and what people actually did/do in negotiating the current changes, while simultaneously contextualizing the various experiences and linking them to their broader societal local and global discourses and ideologies. The fact that there are already various competing views among Arabs on Arab streets about '' The Arab Spring'', makes the point of the book all the more important because it is aimed to reveal the complex reality of these important events instead of lumping all Arab experiences under one vague umbrella. Goals: The book has three main goals. First, it aims to demystify ''The Arab Spring'' and highlight human agency by viewing and investigating social and other media as cultural tools used by social actors. Second, it intends to provide the most comprehensive depiction and understanding of the current changes sweeping across the Middle East. Third, it will demonstrate how multiple methods stemming from linguistics and related fields reveal how both discursive and non- discursive means through which protests, ''thawrat'' or ''changes'' happen are negotiated. Methodology: Because of the complexity of the Arab situation or ''The Arab Spring,'' the methodology ideally draws upon various qualitative or/and quantitative social scientific and humanistic approaches, including but not limited to discourse analysis (interactional sociolinguistics, conversation analysis, mediated discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis); multimodal approaches; ethnography; and grounded theory. The data will ideally include examinations of chatroom discourse, social media discourse, flyers, flags, official discourse, TV discourse (Al Jazeera, Al Arabia or any other TV news channel), newspaper discourse, real time discourse, interviews, face to face discourse and/or any other form of data that relates to old and new forms of social media use. Topics: Ideally, we would like to include two articles on each Arab region such as Tunis, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Oman, Yemen, Jordan and any other Arab country going through political and social changes. These articles preferably will present various views on ''The Arab Spring.'' The role that Al Jazeera and other media as well as other sources have played in igniting or otherwise shaping these changes is considered also. Analyses of how using various media technologies or social media sites as forums for social change or resistance of change are encouraged. Submission Procedure: Scholars are invited to submit on or before February 14, 2012, a 500 word abstract explaining the point of the chapter, data, methodology and summary of analysis or findings, if possible. Authors should also briefly explain how their proposed chapter fits in with the goal of the book. Authors will be notified by February 28, 2012 about the status of their proposed abstract/chapter and will be sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters (7000-9000 words) are expected to be submitted by June 15, 2012. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for the edited volume. Important Dates: February 14, 2012: 500 word Abstract Submission Deadline February 28, 2012: Notification of Acceptance June 15, 2012: Full Chapter Submission (7000-9000 words) July 15, 2012: Review Results Returned August 30, 2012: Final Chapter Submission Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded by e-mail to: Dr. Najma Al Zidjaly Visiting Scholar at the Linguistics Department of Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA (2012). E-mail: najmazgmail.com Permanent Address: Assistant Professor English Department College of Arts & Social Sciences Sultan Qaboos University P. O. Box. 42 Al Khod, 123, Oman. Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 10-Jan-2012       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.