“You’ll become a muslim just like them”: Kosova Youth Bridging Ethnic and Geographical Divides Through Social Media

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 11:45 am - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Cultivating Coalition Through Multiple Literacies

Abstract

This study explores how Kosova youth in a post/ongoing conflict context navigate ethnic tensions and reframe national narratives through digital media. Drawing on ethnographic and participatory methodologies, we examine how young people cross geographical and ethnic divides via social media to imagine new social arrangements. This research uses critical and digital literacy frameworks to highlight how youth disrupt dominant discourses, reimagine inter-ethnic relations, and mobilize social media for activism and ideological contestation.

Authors

• Ermal Hoxha, University of Missouri

• Robert Petrone, University of Missouri