Arabic Glitch: Technoculture, Data Bodies, and Archives

Arabic Glitch investigates the role of programming technology in shaping social movements during the 2011 Arab uprisings, focusing on the Middle East. By analyzing social media data, the book proposes that the logic of programming technology influences and shapes social movements. It suggests that there is no longer a divide between the virtual and embodied, and that both bodies and data are physically, socially, and energetically actual.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 194 pages
Publication date: 28 June 2023
Publisher: Stanford University Press

Arabic Glitch delves into an alternative narrative of technological innovation in digital politics, focusing on the Middle East and the 2011 Arab uprisings. This book, derived from an extensive archive of social media data collected since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, explores how the logic of programming technology influences and shapes social movements. By engaging with revolutionary politics, Arab media, and digital practices, Laila Shereen Sakr develops a media theory that posits the glitch as a disruptive media affordance. Through the use of data analytics, she analyzes tweets, posts, and blogs to describe the political culture of social media, presenting her findings under the guise of the Arabic-speaking cyborg VJ Um Amel. Sakr challenges the notion of a divide between the virtual and embodied realms, arguing that both bodies and data are physically, socially, and energetically actual. This book offers valuable insights into how a region undergoing transformation became a forefront for new thinking about digital systems, encompassing the records they maintain, the lives they impact, and strategies for fostering change from within.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503635883