EXILE 2.0. An analysis of Afrah Nasser’s blog authorship

Abstract

The thesis analyses how blogging in the Arabic blogosphere conditions political authorship in exile and how new digital media technologies create novel forms of presence at a distance. This purpose is fulfilled by an in-depth analysis of the works by Yemeni blogger Afrah Nasser. The thesis relies on media theory in relation to the blog as a medium and the sociological concept of “connected migrant” to understand the literary genre of exile literature in the context of the blogosphere. The corpus under investigation in this thesis consists of two blogs created by Nasser, the first located on afrahnasser.blogspot.com and the second blog is al- Dimuqratiyya kalima murra (Democracy is a bitter word). The analysis is based on selected posts from both of Nasser’s blogs, which were published during the time of the 15th of January 2011 to the 1st of May 2015. Being uprooted, a central theme in 20th century writing, is no longer the same experience as digital technologies make global communication possible on a much larger scale and available to more people. The spatial disruption inherent in migration is today accompanied by instant ICT-mediated communication with the homeland. In Nasser's authorship this is abundantly present, as she often returns to the immediate conversations with her friends and family in Yemen, often taking place on a daily basis, as grounds for her exile writing. This, however, does not erase some of the conventional characteristics of exile literature, for example expressing a longing for returning to the homeland and frustration with the predicaments of exile. The main difference between 20th century exile authorship and Nasser’s blog authorship is a higher degree of presence and connectivity afforded by the blog as a medium.