Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T12:11:46.225Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - In the Presence of Fear

Violence and Publics in Kenya

from Part IV - The Power of Publics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2021

Stephanie Diepeveen
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

Violence has long been a feature of the exercise and contestation of rule in Kenya. This chapter explores how publics reflect the threat and presence of public violence. In the early 2010s, violence, both online and on the streets, became increasingly frequent and present. Throughout early 2014, there were repeated clashes between Muslim youth and security forces, and between street hawkers and the county government in the city. Chapter 9 asks if and how experiences of violence either defended or threatened publics. Violence was, in many ways, silencing. Still, acts of violence and the fear of violence did not simply silence debate. Public discussion on Facebook transgressed boundaries, showing how the issues that were beyond the scope of the street parliaments were present online, bringing emotion and more intimate concerns into public discussion. At the same time, in opening up discussion to consider these acts of violence, Facebook gave rise to new threat to open and plural discussion in the form of personal insult and attacks.

Type
Chapter
Information
Searching for a New Kenya
Politics and Social Media on the Streets of Mombasa
, pp. 183 - 195
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×