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Social Media in Northern Chile

Posting the Extraordinarily Ordinary

Based on 15 months of ethnographic research in the city of Alto Hospicio in northern Chile, this book describes how the residents use social media, and the consequences of this use in their daily lives. Nell Haynes argues that social media is a place where Alto Hospicio’s residents – or Hospiceños – express their feelings of marginalisation that result from living in city far from the national capital, and with a notoriously low quality of life compared to other urban areas in Chile. In actively distancing themselves from residents in cities such as Santiago, Hospiceños identify as marginalised citizens, and express a new kind of social norm. Yet Haynes finds that by contrasting their own lived experiences with those of people in metropolitan areas, Hospiceños are strengthening their own sense of community and the sense of normativity that shapes their daily lives. This exciting conclusion is illustrated by the range of social media posts about personal relationships, politics and national citizenship, particularly on Facebook.

230 pages | 6.14 x 9.21 | © 2016

Free digital open access editions are available to download from UCL Press.


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Table of Contents

"Introduction: Online and on the Margins in Alto Hospicio, Chile

The Social Media Landscape: Performing Citizenship
Online

Visual Posting: The Aesethics of Alto Hospicio
Relationships: Creating Authenticity on Social Media
Work and Gender: Producing Normativity and Gendered Selves
The Wider World: Imagining Community in Alto Hospicio
Conclusion: The Extraordinary Ordinariness of Alto Hospicio"

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