
Social Media Tribes
Jordan's Bedouin and the Margins of the State
Geoffrey F. Hughes(Author)
University of Texas Press
Will be published approx. on 13. October 2026
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-1-4773-3471-3 (ISBN)
Description
An examination of the uses of social media in Jordan through the experiences of Bedouin tribespeople.
It has become something of a cliche to say that social media is making us tribal. But what do self-styled tribespeople themselves think about social media, and how might they help us better understand the role of the internet in our current political moment? Drawing on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork among Bedouin in Jordan, Social Media Tribes underscores the varied but broadly intelligible ways in which distinctive groups domesticate social media to suit their needs.
Organized around key concepts in Bedouin life (including tribalism, envy, and mercy), Social Media Tribes moves between Facebook-mediated tribal truces, upstart online media platforms, palatial urban villas where self-appointed sheikhs dispense justice, and street clashes organized over WhatsApp in rural communities ignored by state development projects. A meticulous researcher and insightful participant-observer, Geoffrey Hughes reframes social media as part of a global renegotiation of the state-society divide that both preceded the emergence of social media platforms and, in turn, feeds off of them. In this telling, the internet represents a new frontier that, like older frontiers, heralds both novel freedoms and novel forms of social control.
It has become something of a cliche to say that social media is making us tribal. But what do self-styled tribespeople themselves think about social media, and how might they help us better understand the role of the internet in our current political moment? Drawing on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork among Bedouin in Jordan, Social Media Tribes underscores the varied but broadly intelligible ways in which distinctive groups domesticate social media to suit their needs.
Organized around key concepts in Bedouin life (including tribalism, envy, and mercy), Social Media Tribes moves between Facebook-mediated tribal truces, upstart online media platforms, palatial urban villas where self-appointed sheikhs dispense justice, and street clashes organized over WhatsApp in rural communities ignored by state development projects. A meticulous researcher and insightful participant-observer, Geoffrey Hughes reframes social media as part of a global renegotiation of the state-society divide that both preceded the emergence of social media platforms and, in turn, feeds off of them. In this telling, the internet represents a new frontier that, like older frontiers, heralds both novel freedoms and novel forms of social control.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4773-3471-3 (9781477334713)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Geoffrey F. Hughes is a senior lecturer in anthropology at the University of Exeter. He is the author of Kinship, Islam, and the Politics of Marriage in Jordan: Affection and Mercy.
Content
List of Illustrations
Note on Transliteration
Introduction: Tribalism and the Politics of an Accusation
Chapter 1. The Many Faces of the State-The Sheikh, The Policeman, and the Journalist
Chapter 2. Tribalism
Chapter 3. Envy
Chapter 4. Face
Chapter 5. The Deep State
Chapter 6. Mercy
Epilogue: Locking Down
Acknowledgments
Notes
Works Cited
Index
Note on Transliteration
Introduction: Tribalism and the Politics of an Accusation
Chapter 1. The Many Faces of the State-The Sheikh, The Policeman, and the Journalist
Chapter 2. Tribalism
Chapter 3. Envy
Chapter 4. Face
Chapter 5. The Deep State
Chapter 6. Mercy
Epilogue: Locking Down
Acknowledgments
Notes
Works Cited
Index