New Publication: Social Media and Politics in Africa - Democracy, Censorship and Security
Maggie Dwyer and Thomas Molony, researchers based in the University of Edinburgh’s Centre of African Studies (within the School of Social and Political Science), are editors of a new book titled Social Media and Politics in Africa: Democracy, Censorship and Security, published by Zed Books.
The edited volume includes chapters by 18 authors whose research covers 9 African countries. Maggie Dwyer, Jean-Benoit Falisse, George Karekwaivanane, Thomas Molony, and Kate Wright are five contributing authors who are part of the Centre for Data Culture & Society’s Media and Communications research cluster at University of Edinburgh.
This book’s chapters explore how rapidly growing social media use is reshaping political engagement in Africa. While both activists and governments across the continent have turned to social media as a form of mobilisation, some African states have increasingly sought to clamp down on the technology, introducing restrictive laws and shutting down networks altogether. While social media has often been hailed as a liberating tool, the book demonstrates how it has also served to reinforce existing power dynamics, rather than challenge them.