Selfies as Voice?: Digital Media, Transnational Publics and the Ironic Performance of Selves

• In Event: Whose Voices Matter? Digital Media Spaces and the Formation of New Publics in the Global South

Abstract

The intensification of migration between Global North and Global South has partially coincided with the emergence of digital media. Access to digital media has shaped migrant journeys and allowed them to keep in close contact with relatives and friends. However, beyond these private uses of digital media, migrants also draw upon digital media for more public uses. Diasporas have voiced themselves publicly by engaging in long-distance nationalism or online political activism aimed at changing the status quo in their home countries. This paper examines the way in which migrants perform and engage in complex dialogues with those ‘back home’ through a Zimbabwean viral selfie video phenomenon, known as zvirikufaya (‘things are fine’). It argues that selfies are not merely narcissistic displays but can challenge those in power. Furthermore, it demonstrates the role of diasporas in the transnationalisation of national publics in the Global South.

Author

• Wendy Willems, London School of Economics and Political Science