Using Digital Media to Examine Social Activism

Abdelmonem Angie, Las Vegas NV

Investigators

Abstract

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. This project examines how the public, activists and media in Egypt have understood varying forms of sexual violence over time and how these understandings of violence advances or impedes the possibilities around civil society and citizen action for social and political change. In particular, this project centers on the concept of sexual harassment, or taharrush in Arabic, which many argue has long been visible in Egypt's public spaces and hinders women's public participation. The meaning of the concept taharrush remains unclear and is deployed by a variety of actors in multiple and conflicting ways. Much remains to be explored regarding the complexity of how taharrush has been conceptualized and its relationship with other forms of violence. Moreover, how these variable conceptualizations impact public responses and approaches to social and political action is important for better understanding pathways toward creating a more just society that respects the human rights of all. This study is critical for highlighting points of cooperation and conflict between state and society and processes of democratization in this region of the world. This project traces the recent evolution of conceptual changes and examines the conceptual tensions facilitating or hindering sexual violence activism. The starting point for this project is the concept of taharrush, or sexual harassment, which is examined in comparison with other Arabic terms for sexually violent practices, including flirting/teasing, assault, and rape. This comparative approach is necessary to define conceptual frames, their overlap and points of difference as discussed by individuals, activists and media. It will also make it possible to highlight the shifting contexts of deployment, the ways in which activists seek to refashion some concepts, and public responses. A comparative analysis of such terms will shed light on how widely held yet potentially unclear concepts of violence impact the ability of activists to promote their criminalization and to change society-wide ideologies of violence. A mixed-methods approach is undertaken in this project that includes text mining using Internet-based information and communication technologies (ICTs), archival research of print news sources, and interviews with gender violence activists. Data from the period 2000 to 2014 will be collected and analyzed through grounded, text-based approaches. Through these methods, this project seeks to generate a more nuanced view of the multifaceted nature of sexual violence and the implications of this with respect to grassroots organizing and fomenting social and political change. This project is significant in that it sheds light on how different societal actors negotiate the meaning of violence in their lives and their quest for social justice, as well as the processes by which democratic change is made possible.