Middle Eastern Women’s ‘Glocal’: Journeying between the Online and Public Spheres

Author(s) Dina Hosni
Contact Dina Hosni, American University in Cairo, New Cairo, 11835, Egypt. E-mail: dina_h@aucegypt.edu
Issue CyberOrient, Vol. 11, Iss. 1, 2017, pp. 4-27
Published May 10, 2017
Type Article
Abstract Despite the fact that the Arab Spring did not necessarily materialize with the political effects anticipated by some of its activists, it has brought into the spotlight the significance of the role of women in direct connection to the online space. In this respect, the article addresses the online world as Middle Eastern women subcultural capital in their traversal to the public sphere, which is otherwise rigorously enforced particularly on women. The hybridity of the private and the public exemplified in the online world in effect plays a pivotal role in rendering the visibility of Middle Eastern women in the political public sphere possible, where new media provides an effective vehicle for those women to establish social and political networks and organizations. Though the goals for those women activists might vary based on the nature of their countries, they have shown to have aptly journeyed between the online and public spheres in order to voice their glocal experiences.
Keywords gender, Muslim women, Arab Spring, public sphere