“Digital Woyane” – fighting the digital revolution : political activists, the use of social media and the construction of nationalist sentiments in Tigray, Ethiopia

Abstract: In recent years, digital technologies provided new affordances for movement leaders as communication strategies in political protests in order to advance democratisation processes, especially in less developed countries. In Ethiopia, numerous protests have been taken place lately, which were mainly organised along ethnic lines on the basis of nationalist sentiments. Political activists in Tigray, the northernmost region of the country, are opposing the idea of a politically unified Ethiopia and aim to protect their own cultures and traditions by participating in political discussions through social media. Online platforms have become their most important tools to express themselves, also because the traditional media is largely controlled by governmental institutions. This thesis aims to investigate social media practices and engagement of activists in political discourses and protest movements in order to understand the role of digital technologies in connection to recent democratisation processes in Tigray. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews with Tigrayan activists were conducted in order to examine new opportunities given by new media in their everyday political participation, and how, through digital media, nationalist feelings are constructed and articulated. This paper argues that, despite government restrictions such as censorship and internet shutdowns as well as the low internet penetration in the country, social media is of big value for the activists in spreading their messages and building on the nation of Tigray. In the discussion about the influence of the activists on the Tigrayan society, the interplay between online and offline spaces becomes central in that the social way people live together supports the distribution of online news in the offline world. Overall, this thesis contributes to the field of African media studies and the need to re-conceptualise theories and concepts by recognising cultural and political circumstances which differ from a Western understanding of doing media research.