egyptian youth in urban and virtual spaces mark allen peterson miami university
TRANSCRIPT
Egyptian Youth in Urban and Virtual SpacesMark Allen Peterson
Miami University
Fieldwork in Egypt1998-2002, 2005, 2010
What I have to say today is based on “anthropology at a distance”
But informed by
Prior fieldwork
Discussions with friends in Egypt
Social media
US EDITION MIDDLE EAST EDITION
“Youth”
Youth is…
A life stage
A cultural construction
Cosmopolitans
The “cosmopolitan class” (Peterson 2011)
The young, educated, underemployed
“young brothers in cyberspace” (Lynch 2007)
New Youth Movements1. New and independent2. Flexible, decentralized
structured and fluid leadership.
3. The movements are “trans-ideological”.
4. Drew in large numbers of participants who had never before engaged in public political acts.
5. Depend to a great extent on social media for communication.
From Shehata 2011.
Virtual Spaces
Overcoming isolation
Bringing people
together
Trying out identities
Urban Spaces
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdKjMiKqVrc&feature=player_embedded
Creativity
Liminality
Antistructure
Communitas
