Media Pressures
The Weaponization of Feminism in a Time of Genocide against Palestinians
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sherene Razack, Inderpal Grewal
Does your feminism include Israel? In the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, this is the question that feminists have been asked, and explicitly singled out for censure by states, universities and media for our condemnation of the genocide. The first and obvious thing that must be said about the call for feminists to acknowledge Israeli suffering and, correspondingly, to deny Palestinian suffering is that as racial discourse, the mode of communication is one of “tabloid realism.” Simply put, communications proceed by way of the kinds of headlines one might see in the National Inquirer. The discursive field is littered with beheaded babies and mass rapes; the visual field features blood on the pants of Israeli women who were killed and images of women with legs splayed and underwear showing. These images generate racial affect. That is to say, they provoke and consolidate emotions that travel between bodies to form a deeply sedimented racial (anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab) affect, an affective charge in the collective unconscious that reasserts the racially superior subject whose culture is assumed to have transcended the oppression of women.
Featured Liquid Life and Structural Suspension of Young Digital Nomads: Based on China’s Localization Experience
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Yuan Deng, Bo Liu
The concept of digital nomadism has driven the rise of the digital nomad community. However, this concept is primarily based on theoretical and cognitive frameworks rooted in Western society and has yet to fully achieve a localized understanding of digital nomads, particularly in Eastern societies. Based on this, this paper adopts the framework of liminality theory to explore the localized practices of young digital nomads in China. The study found that young digital nomads are "betweens" who can be both free (Betwixt) and in (Between). They do not have jobs to support themselves, and they cannot resist the social structural pressure of "running away from home". They rely on the visibility and convenience of the media to highlight the mobility characteristics of the group, which constitutes the " structural suspension" of the young digital nomads. Choosing to become a digital nomad is a way and means for individuals to obtain "nearby" , but they face the challenges of "disruption of sense of place" and " loss of the nearby " in the localized digital nomadic life. Chinese digital nomads still face close ties with their family and regional identity during the "nomadic" process. Their nomadic identity therefore has the characteristics of "settling while moving and moving while settling", forming a "Intermediaries" social role that combines independence and connectivity. Young digital nomads in Chinese society are a group that practices "liquid life", and the question of where digital nomads are going should be our common concern.
From Monologue to Dialogue: Government Dialogic Communication on Social Media During COVID-19 in Lebanon View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hussein Bajouk
This study investigates how dialogic communication principles are applied in government social media, focusing on the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health’s (MoPH) COVID-19 and vaccination-related messaging from 2020 to 2023. Using a mixed-method design, the study combines content analysis of 455 Instagram posts with interviews conducted with MoPH officials and social media users who follow the Ministry’s account. Findings reveal that dialogic communication was poorly implemented. Posts prioritized information dissemination and user retention, while dialogic loops and online mobilization were limited. Correlation analysis shows that posts with dialogic loops and mobilization elements were associated with significantly higher levels of public participation (likes and comments). Interview findings confirmed the limited nature of dialogic communication, identified staffing, financial, and technical challenges, and suggested structural improvements. The study makes several key contributions. Theoretically, it is the first to examine government communication in Lebanon through dialogic lenses, and the first to apply dialogic theory to Instagram using a mixed-method approach. It critiques how dialogic principles have been previously defined and operationalized, offering clearer guidance in response to recent scholarly debates. Most importantly, it introduces a new Instagram-specific dialogic communication model with three levels: profile, post, and real-time. This model serves as a practical toolkit for assessing and enhancing dialogic capacity on visual-first platforms. Practically, the study offers recommendations to strengthen digital communication infrastructure, build in-house capacity, and foster more participatory government–citizen relationships—especially in less democratic contexts such as Lebanon, where public trust is fragile and civic participation remains limited.
