Overview

Hidden information, double meanings, double-crossing, and the constant processes of encoding and decoding messages have always been important techniques in negotiating social and political power dynamics. Yet these tools, “cryptopolitics,” are transformed when used within digital media. Focusing on African societies, Cryptopolitics brings together empirically grounded studies of digital media toconsider public culture, sociality, and power in all its forms, illustrating the analytical potential of cryptopolitics to elucidate intimate relationships, political protest, and economic strategies in the digital age.

Full Product Details

Author:   Victoria Bernal ,  Katrien Pype ,  Daivi Rodima-Taylor
Publisher:   Berghahn Books
Imprint:   Berghahn Books
ISBN:  

9781805390299

ISBN 10:   1805390295
Pages:   253
Publication Date:   14 July 2023
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

List of Figures Introduction: Cryptopolitics and Digital Media in Africa Katrien Pype, Victoria Bernal, and Daivi Rodima-Taylor Chapter 1. Four Ways of Not Saying Something in Digital Kinshasa: Or, On the Substance of Shadow Conversations Katrien Pype Chapter 2. The Power to Conceal in an Age of Social Media Simon Turner Chapter 3. KOT, Digital Practices and the Performance of Politics in Kenya George Ogola Chapter 4. The Muslim Mali Game: Revisiting the religious-security-post-colonial nexus in Malian popular culture Marie Deridder and Olivier Servais Chapter 5. Algorithmic Power in a Contested Digital Public: Crypto-politics and Identity in the Somali Conflict Peter Chonka Chapter 6. The Cryptopolitics of Digital Mutuality Daivi Rodima-Taylor Chapter 7. This Dictatorship is a Joke: Eritrean Politics as Tragicomedy Victoria Bernal Chapter 8. Digital Security in an African Sanctuary City Lisa Poggiali Conclusion: Studying Cryptopolitics Daivi Rodima-Taylor, Katrien Pype, and Victoria Bernal Index

Reviews

The strength of the book lies in its demonstration of how political and social practices are always anchored in local sociality, as well as understanding that the roles of social media in contemporary Africa are important to understand what is going on. * Jo Helle-Valle, Oslo Metropolitan University

Author Information

Victoria Bernal is a cultural anthropologist and Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. Her articles and chapters have appeared in various collections as well as in anthropological, African Studies, and interdisciplinary journals including American Ethnologist, Cultural Anthropology, American Anthropologist, Global Networks, Comparative Studies in Society and History, African Studies Review, and Political and Legal Anthropology Review.

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