Coleman, S. orcid.org/0000-0001-9571-4759 and Sorensen, L. orcid.org/0000-0002-3995-2055 (2023) A rhetoric of digital politics. In: Coleman, S. and Sorensen, L., (eds.) Handbook of Digital Politics Second Edition. Elgar Handbooks in Political Science . Edward Elgar Publishing , pp. 2-44. ISBN 9781800377578
Abstract
This chapter addresses the creative processes involved in imagining, and writing about, digital politics. It argues that scholarship on digital politics engages in rhetorical constructions as necessary means of attracting and occupying the attention of audiences and of getting a good argument across; all good writers are also good storytellers. However, when such storytelling occupies binary positions such as cyber optimism and pessimism, academic rhetoric serves to suppress the complexities and nuances of digital politics. We propose an alternative rhetorical position of ambivalence. This requires an epistemic stance of receptivity and creativity, of listening and being open to contingent possibilities. The position of ambivalence allows us to capture the push and pull of digital politics - the ways in which the digital and the political shape, constrain and act upon each other. Rather than focusing on causal questions of influence, however, it compels us to query how the digital and the political constitute and regulate the reconfigured subjectivities that emerge through digital politics.
Metadata
Item Type: | Book Section |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Editors: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Stephen Coleman and Lone Sorensen 2023. This is a draft chapter. The final version is available in Handbook of Digital Politics edited by Stephen Coleman and Lone Sorensen, published in 2023, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800377585.00009. The material cannot be used for any other purpose without further permission of the publisher, and is for private use only. |
Keywords: | Rhetoric; Cyber pessimism; Cyber optimism; Digital imaginaries; Academic writing; Ambivalence |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Media & Communication (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 16 Jan 2024 13:56 |
Last Modified: | 21 May 2024 00:13 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Edward Elgar Publishing |
Series Name: | Elgar Handbooks in Political Science |
Identification Number: | 10.4337/9781800377585.00009 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:207695 |