1. Minorities and online political
mobilization: Investigating ‘acts of
citizenship’
Cheryll Ruth R. Soriano
Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore

2. Citizenship as performance
• Substantive citizenship
• Analysis of subjects as they become claimants of
citizenship, even under unexpected conditions
(Benhabib, 2004; Isin, 2002).
• Citizenship is not merely state-given, but cultivated,
learned, and fought for (Isin, 2002)
• “Acts of citizenship” are acts through which citizens,
strangers, and aliens emerge not as beings already
defined, but as beings acting and reacting with others,
as they enact ways of becoming political actors
• Particularly salient for minorities

3. “Democratization of technology”
and “technologization of democracy”
dialectic
minority productions bypass traditional
•
distribution systems and can serve as a promising
vector for minority groups as they insert their own
stories and struggles into national narratives
• issues of “strategic essentialism”, “objectification”,
commercialism, and state controls shed doubt on
whether online media can truly be localized and
emancipatory for minorities

4. Research Question
What constitutes minority activist
agency and ‘acts of citizenship’ within a
technological discourse?

5. INDIGENOUS

6. MUSLIM
(Bangsamoro)

7. QUEER/LGBT

8. Case Study Evidence
• Ethnographic interviews with group leaders,
members, and experts (9-14 per group)
• Thematic analysis of online spaces (January to May 2010-
in preparation for and during field interviews; October to December,
2010, and May-July 2011; politically – relevant time periods)
• Secondary data (i.e. historical archives published
materials on the organizations’ communication
strategies, internal newsletters/documents, website
analytics)

9. Organiz Type Website E-Magazine Facebook E-group Twitter
ation
Cordillera Ethnic/ √ √*
Peoples’ indigenous
Alliance
Ladlad LGBT √ √ (2) √ √
(3)**
Moro Islamic Muslim √ √ √ (2) undisclosed √
Liberation (3)
Front ***
Based on interviews and review of online spaces (Jan
to
May
2010,
Oct
to
Dec,
2010,
and
May-­‐July
2011)
*Exclusive to members; not accessible to researcher
** 2 mirror sites
*** One is the original website, another a mirror website; and a third one, an Arabic
version of the website (only original website is reviewed)

10. Nego8a8on
of
technological
Crea8ve
uses
of
technology
risks
and
possibili8es
(internet
as
a
context
for
(internet
as
an
arena
of
struggle)
struggle)
Public
hidden
Subpoli8cal
trancripts
and
acts
infrapoli8cs
Alternative forms of political practice:
‘acts of citizenship’?

11. 1) Resistance
to
threats
and
risks
posed
by
technological
engagement
(Internet
as
an
arena
of
struggle)
Indigenous
(CPA)
Moro
(Islamic
Lib
Front)
Queer
(Ladlad)
• Managing
online
content
• Planning
of
website
• Resistance
to
threats
from
and
produc8on
to
content
and
investment
in
homo/transphobic
posts
prevent
secured
services
to
by
managing
the
content
commercializa8on
of
nego8ate
technological,
of
its
online
spaces
and
ritual-­‐based
indigenous
state,
military,
and
working
together
to
knowledge
interna8onal
rela8ons
and
report
spaces
that
are
controls.
abusive
or
prejudist
of
• Managing
threats
to
LGBTs
security
through
• Nego8a8ng
the
publica8on
selec8vity
in
online
of
sensi8ve
poli8cal
news
/
• Broad
use
of
social
media
features
content
to
tap
LGBT
users
• Nego8a8ng
the
• Balancing
online
and
• Cau8ousness
about
publica8on
of
sensi8ve
offline
communica8on
‘public
online
poli8cal
news
/
content
strategies
ar8cula8ons’,
and
threats
to
privacy
of
its
members
• Balancing
online
and
offline
strategies

12. “On
making
a
decision
about
tradi2onal
knowledge,
if
we
publish,
it
can
be
obtained
by
anyone
and
be
patented.
So
to
reconcile
those
condi2ons
we
consult
them.
Would
you
allow
us
to
put
this
online
or
not?
It
has
to
come
from
the
community
themselves—what
do
they
want
to
be
published
or
come
out
and
be
considered
in
the
public
domain
and
what
should
be
kept
secret
or
within
the
community.
Usually
the
communi2es
have
protocol
already.
Which
kind
of
knowledge
is
for
them
alone,
which
ones
must
be
protected…xxx…So
we
discussed,
do
we
publish?
But the community said that those are sacred knowledge that
should not come out. So we did not publish it. Yes the community
has a system for determining what is good and not good for them.
This is sacred. There is ritual involved here. Outsiders should not
know. We all know it is possible to steal so those knowledge stays in
the community” (CPA leader, Personal interview, May 2010)
“There was a time one of our members suggested to try putting up
an online forum. But when we conducted a brain storming session,
we looked at that format, we learned that Google will put its ads in
the page. Of course we will lose the integrity of our website. So we
don’t have it (chat facility) because we do not know who will
suddenly advertise in our website”

13. broadening the arena of politics by
seeing the technological as political
• negotiations of technology use (presentation, articulation,
identity construction; knowledge management vis a vis
online “controls”): the technological, which is in itself “an
arena of struggle”, can be political
• Instance of ‘subpolitics’ (Bakardjieva, 2009; De Vries,
2007)

14. 2)
Strategic
and
crea8ve
uses
of
online
spaces
for
mobiliza8on
(Context
for
Struggle)
Indigenous
Moro
Queer
Use
of
indigenous
iden8ty
to
Use
of
mul8ple
divergent
Framing
strategies
for
communicate
the
historico-­‐ ar8cula8ons
to
reach
out
to
collec8ve
iden8ty
building
poli8cal
basis
of
the
struggle
mul8ple
interna8onal
en88es;
balancing
between
radicalism
and
diplomacy
Connec8ng
with
networks
of
Concealment
of
poli8cal
Online
spaces
as
cocoons
for
indigenous
communi8es
meanings;
use
of
anonymity
‘belonging’
and
to
shield
the
globally
and
ambiguity
group
from
discrimina8on
Use
of
indigenous
symbolic
Use
of
Moro
symbolic
forms;
Nego8a8on
of
online
content
forms
to
differen8ate
itself
engagement
of
non-­‐Moro
and
image:
delinea8on
of
the
from
other
organiza8ons
guest
writers
(marking
and
public
and
private;
deletes
unmarking
of
Moro
iden8ty)
nega8ve
comments
on
its
own
space

16. Broadening the scope of political strategy through
hidden transcripts and infrapolitics
• Public transcripts: open mobilizations and networking
• The strategic imperatives of minority groups’ hidden
transcripts and infrapolitics make these appropriations of
technology fundamentally different from the logics of
political action and exercise of citizenship in modern
democracies.
• Because such political acts are covert, it should not be
discounted as these articulations communicate important
meanings by which minorities engage with technology,
view the controls and forces surrounding technology,
and use technology to achieve political goals

17. Facilitating the disruption of structures
• Online performances disrupt the mainstream discourses
symbolically by situating the dominant rhetoric of normalcy,
democracy and peace beside the lived experience of
conflict, oppression, hunger and marginalization of minority
communities
• Alternative views of members
Expanding the realm of minority politics beyond the
nation state
• nation-states as the sole definitional basis for political
interaction is undermined by online media use
• reaching out to the international community- networks and
connections as a way to increase their political bargaining
power

18. Closing
• Minority activists’ ‘acts of citizenship’ online include
the creation of their own screen memories, negotiation
of their political voice, mobilization networking,
defining and debating their identities, and negotiating
their way through technology
• Acts of citizenship’ in the digital age constitutes seeing
technological engagement as an “arena of struggle”,
but also as a “context for struggle”, which surface new
and creative forms of political engagement

19. Some issues
Reflexivity
• Circuits, reach, and interpretations of online
messages are unpredictable, and the posts can
also be used by antagonists to reinforce prejudices
• Extent that such online articulations and global
connections facilitated by online spaces create
opportunities for strengthening their political
bargaining positions
Politics of representation
• Who gets to speak for whom online
Transnational and collective identity amidst diversity