Tiptoeing along the red lines
In 2016, one of the largest Chinese Muslim websites was shut down. The death of such a website raises questions regarding the censorious agency exercised by ordinary Chinese Muslims and the development of digital Islam in contemporary China. This narrative follows a Muslim online moderator, Yahyaa,...
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| Publicat a: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/terrain, |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Anglais |
| Publicat: |
Terrain
2019
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| Matèries: | |
| Accés en línia: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Sumari: | In 2016, one of the largest Chinese Muslim websites was shut down. The death of such a website raises questions regarding the censorious agency exercised by ordinary Chinese Muslims and the development of digital Islam in contemporary China. This narrative follows a Muslim online moderator, Yahyaa, and recounts his experience of self-censorship through ethnographic engagements. It asks: in China’s highly regulated yet porous digital landscape, what are the unique risks and challenges an ordinary Muslim may be facing? What is silenced and what gets heard? By tracing Yahyaa’s life story, this narrative pays close attention to the specific tactics and ethical choices in managing a digital Islamic space. It also highlights how Muslim online moderators creatively interpret the red lines (hongxian) of state regulations through their principle of management (guanli). Yahyaa’s story shows how, as a Muslim moderator, his censorious agency is both constrained and empowering. This multifaceted agency has significant implications for understanding the censored digital landscape in China, particularly in relation to the cyberspace created and navigated by faith-based minorities such as the Chinese Muslims. Such censorious agency holds promise for the development of public spaces and civic societies in contemporary China, no matter how constraining the current censorship that has been imposed upon its citizens. |
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