Politics of Rightful Killing: Civil Society, Gender, and Sexuality in Weblogistan (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781478005964)

In the early 2000s, mainstream international news outlets celebrated the growth of Weblogistan--the online and real-life transnational network of Iranian bloggers--and depicted it as a liberatory site that gave voice to Iranians. As Sima Shakhsari argues in Politics of Rightful Killing, the common assumptions of Weblogistan as a site of civil society consensus and resistance to state oppression belie its deep internal conflicts. While Weblogistan was an effective venue for some Iranians to "practice democracy," it served as a valuable site for the United States to surveil bloggers and express anti-Iranian sentiment and policies. At the same time, bloggers used the network to self-police and enforce gender and sexuality norms based on Western liberal values in ways that unwittingly undermined Weblogistan's claims of democratic participation. In this way, Weblogistan became a site of cybergovernmentality, where biopolitical security regimes disciplined and regulated populations. Analyzing online and off-line ethnography, Shakhsari provides an account of digital citizenship that raises questions about the internet's relationship to political engagement, militarism, and democracy.

Author: Sima Shakhsari
ISBN-10: 1478005963
ISBN-13: 9781478005964
Publisher: Duke University Press
Language: English
Published: 01/17/2020
Pages: 312
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.30w x 0.90d