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SUMMARY:Social media and the making of the New-Baraza\; mediatisation of K
 enya’s local administration  - Dr Duncan Omanga\, (Moi University\, Keny
 a)
DTSTART:20151123T170000Z
DTEND:20151123T180000Z
UID:TALK61753@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Victoria Jones
DESCRIPTION:In this presentation I shed light on the increasing mediatizat
 ion of the Chief’s Baraza in Kenya\, one which I term the new Baraza. Th
 e baraza is both a space and place traced to pre-colonial deliberative pra
 ctices that presently refers to a formal public gathering for the purposes
  of interaction between Chiefs and members of their locations. I borrow fr
 om mediatization studies\, a concept used to study media-related changes i
 n the organization and operations of institutions\, shifting power relatio
 ns\, changes in social relationships and interactions\, and new ways to ex
 plore (self-) representations and identities\, in order to capture the man
 y ways through which the baraza has been influenced and reshaped by social
  media logic. Drawing from ethnographic data captured from fieldwork in Na
 kuru County\, I attempt to show how the baraza\, in a context undergoing d
 ynamic and complex structural and social processes\, has reproduced a kind
  of a virtual baraza\, a result of the rapid spread of use of mobile telep
 hony and social media in rural Kenya. Furthermore\, I expound on the newne
 ss of the ‘new baraza’\, and the new possibilities\, roles and that th
 e new baraza affords to the Chiefs\, his assistants and the wider village 
 through (social media) texts\, social action and attempts at self realizat
 ion.
LOCATION:Seminar Room S1 Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge
  CB3 9DT
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