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ABSTRACT
Over the past decade, Kenyan citizens have actively engaged in public communication through digital media. With the growth of digital communication, questions arise about its effect on the nature and political significance of public discussion. Does the political contribution of public discussion shift if it takes place on a virtual site or in a face-to-face gathering? Examining the context of Mombasa, Kenya, this paper provides a unique perspective into how and why there is cause for concern about the political implications of Facebook-mediated discussion. It interrogates the extent to which Facebook provides for discussion that is capable of reshaping shared imaginaries among Kenyans. To do this, I first outline the specific form that publicity takes on Facebook, taking into account both its openness and limitations. Second, I analyse what this has meant for the reconfiguration of shared political imaginaries. Drawing on the case of the public Facebook group, Mombasa Youth Senate, I argue that the conditions of Facebook create an open space that provides a great deal of flexibility in how people can appear and be recognised. However, this open and flexible experience frustrates the emergence of new and shared ideas of difference and belonging. In this case, Facebook’s underlying structures combined with user experiences are reinforcing rather than reconfiguring established ideas of citizen-state relations.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Post to Mombasa Youth Senate public Facebook group on 28 September 2014 at 11:27 EAT, recorded on 29 September 2014 at 14:06 EAT. Facebook posts are copied verbatim throughout.
2 Musila, “The ‘Redykyulass Generation’s’;” Ogola, “Popular Culture and Politics;” Ogola, “The Political Economy of the Media in Kenya.”
3 In 2000, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimated 0.3% of the Kenyan population used the internet and there were 127,404 mobile phone subscriptions. By 2014, 43.4% of the population used the internet and there were more than 33.6 million mobile phone subscriptions. ITU. 2016. Time Series Data. Accessed April 5, 2016. https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx.
4 This increase could be hypothesised to be linked to increased political consciousness associated with the recently devolved political system, which introduced new local elected posts and new political insiders and outsiders within counties. Interrogating potential linkages requires further research. See Cornell & D’Arcy, “Plus ça change?”
5 Warner, “Publics and Counterpublics,” 50.
6 Willems, “Interrogating public sphere.”
7 Banégas et al., “Espaces publics de la parole;” Barnett, “Media, Ddemocracy and Representation;” Diepeveen, “Politics in Everyday Kenyan Street-Life.”
8 Baym, Personal Connections; Couldry, “What and where;” Fraser, “Transnationalizing the Public Sphere.”
9 Manganga, “The Internet as Public Sphere”; Moyo, “Alternative Media”; Moyo, “Repression, Propaganda, and Digital Resistance”; Obijiofor, “New Technologies as Tools of Empowerment.”
10 Nyamnjoh, Africa’s Media; Obadare, “Playing Politics with the Mobile Phone”; Obadare, “The uses of Ridicule”; Osborn, “Fuelling the Flames.”
11 Gagliardone, “New Media and the Developmental State.”
12 Arendt, The Human Condition, 50, 175–6.
13 Arendt, The Human Condition, 52.
14 boyd & Crawford, “Critical Questions for Big Data,” 671–3.
15 Willis and Chome, “Marginalization and Political Participation.”
16 Wolf, Muthoka, and Ireri, Kenya Coast Survey.
17 Willis and Gona, “Pwani c Kenya,” 1–-2.
18 Willis and Chome, “Marginalization and Political Participation.”
19 Willis and Gona, “Pwani c Kenya,” 20–21.
20 Mwakimako and Willis, Islam, Politics, and Violence.
21 Prestholdt, “Kenya, the United States, and Counterterrorism.”
22 Lind, Mutahi and Oosterom, “Killing a Mosquito.”
23 Horowitz and MUHURI, “We’re Tired of Taking you to the Court.”
24 Anderson and McKnight, “Kenya at War.”
25 Diepeveen, “Politics in Everyday Kenyan Street-Life,” 269–70.
26 Kresse, “Philiosophising in Mombasa,” 78–9.
27 Mwakimako and Willis, Islam, Politics, and Violence.
28 Stork et al, “Internet Going Mobile.”
29 Interview with male human rights activist, 5 September 2013 (Interviewee number 6).
30 For example, membership rose to 7,883 members by June 2015. Recorded 23 June 2015 at 14:33 EAT.
31 Different levels of detail on an individual’s profile would be visible to other members of MYS. This depended on whether users were linked as Facebook “friends.” For a more general description of Facebook’s features for communication and networking, see Appendix A in Wilson, Gosling, & Graham, A review of Facebook research, 214.
32 Sundén, in boyd & Ellison, “Social Network Sites,” 3.
33 Diepeveen, “Politics in everyday Kenyan Street-Life,” 273.
34 At 10:57 EAT on 14 August 2014, Mombasa Youth Senate had a total of 1,292 members. However, of these, 1,266 were visible through my Facebook account. This was likely limited due to users’ privacy settings.
35 Keith & Van Belle, “The use of a Social Networking Site.”
36 Alac Mombasa is a profile posting as the Advocacy and legal centre at Transparency International Kenya, in Mombasa, member of MYS as of 16 October 2015.
37 Kecosce Mombasa is a community support resource centre, founded in 2006, working in the coastal region of Kenya, member of MYS as of 16 October 2015.
38 Post to Mombasa Youth Senate’s Facebook group on 20 December 2014, recorded on 2 July 2015 at 11:09 EAT.
39 The profile also changed its user name in early 2015 to a name that appeared to reference a Giriama female fighter against the British colonial rule, Mekatilili wa Menza, by using the name ‘Mekatilili Jeri.’ See Oketch, Angela. 2015. “I once worked as a househelp in UAE.” Daily Nation mobile version, 7 March. Accessed August 24, 2015. http://mobile.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/Emma-Mbura-My-journey--to-politics-/-/1950774/2645732/-/format/xhtml/item/0/-/mksvtc/-/index.html.
40 In addition to 47 elected senators, each representing one county, Kenya’s senate has 16 nominated female members, two members representing youth, and two representing persons with disabilities.
41 Owens, “Not life but the World,” 300; Arendt, The Promise of Politics, 118; Arendt, The Human Condition, 181.
42 Recorded 22 September at 14:53 EAT.
43 Post to MYS on 12 November 2014, recorded 24 August 2015 at 23:19 EAT.
44 Stork et al., “Internet Going Mobile.”
45 Crandall et al., Mobile Phone usage at the Kenyan base of the Pyramid, 39.
46 Wolf, Muthoka, and Ireri, Kenya Coast Survey.
47 Approximate value of £70.00 at the time of fieldwork.
48 To quote from the Facebook Newsroom, the mission of Facebook as a corporate entity is “Founded in 2004, Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.” Accessed March 17, 2016. http://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/.
49 See Marichal, Facebook Democracy, 3.
50 For example, The Economist reported Facebook to be the sixth-most-valuable public company as of April 2016, with 1 billion people estimated to log on daily. The Economist 2016. “The New Face of Facebook: How to Win Friends and Influence People.” The Economist, 9 April. Accessed April 9, 2016. http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21696507-social-network-has-turned-itself-one-worlds-most-influential-technology-giants.
51 Dean, “Big Data;” Dean, “Communicative Capitalism.”
52 Napoli and Obar, “The Emerging Mobile Internet Underclass.”
53 Facebook Newsroom. 2014. “Internet.org App Comes to Kenya.” Facebook, 10 November. Accessed August 17, 2016. http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/11/internet-org-app-comes-to-kenya/.
54 Posts to MYS on 13 and 14 August 2014, recorded 19 August 2014 at 11:57 EAT.
55 Informal correspondence with three MYS administrators, 13 September 2014 (173).
56 The individuals who approved the membership requests commented in response to notes of thanks on 5 March, 24 April, 11, 24, 27 May, 9, 24 June, 17 July and 13 August 2014 (all recorded on 19 August 2014 between 11:57-11:58 EAT).
57 For example, post made on 20 September 2014, recorded 22 September at 14:53 EAT.
58 The Mombasa County Commissioner and the Governor of Mombasa
59 Comments on MYS, 13 July 2014, recorded 24 August 2015 at 23:39 EAT.
60 Comments on MYS, 1 October 2014, recorded 1 October 2014 at 17:13 EAT.
61 Post to MYS, 1 February 2015, recorded 2 February 2015 at 16:28 EAT.
62 Informal correspondence with three MYS administrators, 13 September 2014 (173).
63 Wasserman, “Introduction;” Wasserman, “Mobile Phones, Popular Media.”