Rock Ethics Institute

Hosted by Yael Warshel, Founding Director of the Children, Media and Conflict Zones Lab

Abstract

How do diasporas fight on social media when their homeland is at war? This talk will present findings from a study about young Armenians aged 18-35 in seven nations and their involvement in online information wars during the 2020 Karabakh conflict. I examine their motivations for engaging in social media activism, strategies and methods of promoting the Armenian narrative, vision of the online opponent, and perceived outcomes of their efforts. Besides investigating this recent case of diaspora youth mobilizing on social media during armed conflict, the study offers broader conclusions about youth, social media, and participatory warfare. I demonstrate how social media enable participatory war that is transnational, monologic, empowering and escalatory, involving individual and networked tactics, and culturally and politically transformative.

Biography

Dmitry Chernobrov is an Associate Professor in media and international politics at the Department of Journalism Studies, University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. He is also Co-Director of the Digital Society Network and has recently been selected as a Research Fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. Dmitry is the author of the book ‘Public Perception of International Crises’, which received the 2019 Furniss Book Award for an “exceptional contribution to the study of international security.” His work focuses on international crises and public opinion; public diplomacy and contested international events; diasporas, memory and conflict; and digital technology and participatory war. His research has been published in International Affairs, Political Psychology, Digital Journalism, BJPIR, Politics, and other leading academic journals. Most recently, he has been working on two projects: one on how diasporas become cyberwarriors during armed conflict in their homeland, and the other – on how states use humor strategically to contest or affirm foreign policy narratives. Dmitry’s research has received funding from the British Academy, Fulbright, the Scottish Funding Council and the University of Southern California.

Co-sponsored by:

Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications

School of International Affairs

For more information about the Children, Media and Conflict Zones Lab, visit: bit.ly/CMCZ_Lab

For information about other Children, Media and Conflict Zones Lab events, visit: bit.ly/CMCZ_Events

For any questions about this event, please contact Jill Redman in the Rock Ethics Institute: jsr5587@psu.edu