{"id":944,"date":"2022-02-02T22:34:15","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T04:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu\/?p=944"},"modified":"2022-02-02T22:34:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T04:34:15","slug":"social-media-influencers-and-the-new-political-economy-in-south-asia-and-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu\/?p=944","title":{"rendered":"Social Media Influencers and the New Political Economy in South Asia and Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Social Media Influencers and the New Political Economy in South Asia and Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

April 7-8, 2022, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Person at Room 2435, North Quad, 105 State Street, Ann Arbor, and available Online through Registration<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sponsored by the Center for South Asian Studies<\/a>, the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies<\/a>, and the African Studies Center<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apply to Attend (coming soon)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Symposium Organizers:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joyojeet Pal<\/a>, School of Information, University of Michigan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Omolade Adunbi<\/a>, DAAS, University of Michigan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student Session:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dipto Das<\/a>, College of Media, Communication and Information, University of Colorado, Boulder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anmol Panda<\/a>, School of Information, University of Michigan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agrima Seth<\/a>, School of Information, University of Michigan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alfred Momodu<\/a>, MIRS, University of Michigan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media influencer activity on platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn are now pivotal to social influence in societies around the world, as the ecology of the public sphere gets increasingly crafted, amplified, or negated by what happens online. This is as true, or more so in the Global South, where social media has often served as the gateway for entry into the online realm for millions of technology users with little or no prior experience. The resulting world is one in which the boundaries between the physical and the virtual has fundamentally reshaped power equations between the citizens and the state, their culture, and their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This symposium at the University of Michigan is focused on social media influencers, and brings a host of leaders, artistes, journalists, activists, commentators, and scholars from two of the fastest growing Internet-using regions of the world to discuss how they interact online, what drives their activities and success, and how being public figures online impacts their lives and work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confirmed Speakers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timipre Sylva<\/a>, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Nigeria<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swara Bhasker<\/a>, Actor and activist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olubunmi Ojediran<\/a>, Actor and entrepreneur, Ruby Sparkling Films<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rumman Chowdhury<\/a>, Director of ML Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability, Twitter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajeev Gowda<\/a>, Former Member of Parliament, India<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aminu Mahmud<\/a>, Political activist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josy Joseph<\/a>, Author, Journalist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aakar Patel<\/a>, Author, Head of Amnesty International India<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Akash Banerjee<\/a>, Comedian, Founder, TheDeshBhakt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katrien Pype<\/a>, Associate Professor, KU Leuven<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Priya Ramani<\/a>, Journalist, Founder IndiaLove project<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Priyanka Paul<\/a>, Artist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anurag<\/a>, Comedian and caste activist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shehla Rashid<\/a>, Activist, researcher<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andre Gonawela<\/a>, Podcaster<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samar Al Bulushi<\/a>, Assistant Professor, UCIrvine<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seyram Avle<\/a>, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardik Rajgor<\/a>, Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gurmehar Kaur<\/a>, Author<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophie Zhang, Whistleblower (TO BE CONFIRMED)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.       Social Media Influencers and the Body<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This segment will present works on the ways bodies are shaped and reshaped online through influencers, scholars, and practitioners who work on aspects of gender, body, and public image. Speakers will include gender activists, fashion, lifestyle and exercise influencers on Instagram, and those who study them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.       Social Media Influencers and the Publics<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This segment will present works on the way media engagement has changed with online influencers. Speakers will include journalists, PR consultants, factcheckers, and independent news media creators, and those who study them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.       Social Media Influencers and Politics<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This segment will present works on the ways political engagement has changed with politicians and parties creating content online. Speakers will include politicians, party social media executives, and activists, particularly those active on Twitter and Whatsapp, and those who study them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.       Social Media Influencers and Culture<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This segment will present works on ways culture \u2013 food, travel, history are articulated on social media by influencers. Speakers will include YouTube influencers specializing in food and travel, social media executives, culture-specific commentators active on Twitter, and those who study them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  Social Media Influencers and the New Political Economy in South Asia and Africa April 7-8, 2022, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor In Person at Room 2435, North Quad, 105 State Street, Ann Arbor, and available Online through Registration Sponsored by the Center for South Asian Studies, the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyojeet.people.si.umich.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}