Author: Donatella Della Ratta

Violence and Visibility in Contemporary Syria: An Ethnography of the “Expanded Places”

10 May 2015

Violence and Visibility in Contemporary Syria: An Ethnography of the “Expanded Places”
Donatella Della Ratta Article This article reflects on the relationship between visibility and violence as redefined by the combined action of warfare and networked communication technologies. Drawing on the author's own ethnography conducted in Syria in 2010, and on anonymous YouTube videos, it introduces the concept of “expanded places” to look at sites that have been physically annihilated; yet, at the same time, they have been re-animated through multiple…

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Remixing the Spring!: Connective leadership and read-write practices in the 2011 Arab uprisings

10 May 2012

Remixing the Spring!: Connective leadership and read-write practices in the 2011 Arab uprisings
Donatella Della Ratta, Augusto Valeriani Article This article discusses the connections between the unfolding of the 2011 Arab uprisings and the “culture of the net”. Being far from overestimating the role that Internet has played in the uprisings, we propose to look at it not as an ensemble of tools, applications and technologies; but as a specific set of values, behaviors, skills and strategies that define the cultural dimension of the…

Article