Politics of Rightful Killing: Civil Society, Gender, and Sexuality in Weblogistan

By Sima Shakhsari

Book Overview

In the early 2000s, mainstream international news outlets celebrated the growth of Weblogistan--the online and real-life transnational network of Iranian bloggers--and depicted it as a liberatory site that gave voice to Iranians. As Sima Shakhsari argues in Politics of Rightful Killing, the common assumptions of Weblogistan as a site of civil society consensus and resistance to state oppression belie its deep internal conflicts. While Weblogistan was an effective venue for some Iranians to "practice democracy," it served as a valuable site for the United States to surveil bloggers and express anti-Iranian sentiment and policies. At the same time, bloggers used the network to self-police and enforce gender and sexuality norms based on Western liberal values in ways that unwittingly undermined Weblogistan's claims of democratic participation. In this way, Weblogistan became a site of cybergovernmentality, where biopolitical security regimes disciplined and regulated populations. Analyzing online and off-line ethnography, Shakhsari provides an account of digital citizenship that raises questions about the internet's relationship to political engagement, militarism, and democracy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 147800665X
• ISBN13: 9781478006657
• Release Date: January 2020
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"