Poetic resistance: Karen long-distance nationalism, rap music, and YouTube

Abstract

This article investigates a concern among encamped elder Karen refugees (an ethnic minority from Myanmar) living along the Thai–Myanmar border that the youth are disconnected politically and culturally. I argue that Karen youth are creative, active participants, reimagining and revitalising Karen politics and culture in their image. I explore how displaced youths have found a voice in Karen rap and how they express this voice in the digitally mediated lived space of YouTube. I consider YouTube as a lived space where citizenship is reimagined and long-distance nationalism is articulated. Finally, I contend that YouTube is transforming Karen youths’ political experiences and mobility and that they are actively political – just not in the way the elders expect.

Physical immobility and virtual mobility: Mediating everyday life from a Karen refugee camp in Thailand

“…They go on to say that mobile and social media have allowed us to connect in unprecedented ways; however, they remind us that young people are not the only ones engaging with new technology (boyd in Jenkins et al, 2015: 32). Although I agree with boyd, who contends that it is misguided to think in terms of a 'digital native/digital immigrant' or a generational divide narrative, I have found in my previous research that the presence of older encamped Karen is located more geographically than virtually (Hill, 2022a).…”

“…In the article, ‘There's no media for refugees’, Jack (2017) describes Mae La and other camps along the border as landscapes devoid of media, where she observes ‘the exclusion of refugees from the common world and subsequent omission of their voices from news coverage’ (Jack, 2017: 127). Elsewhere (Hill, 2022c), I argue that Facebook has afforded those with access to new media devices, such as smartphones and tablets and the internet, a space to articulate their daily lives. Transcending the material camp and entering into the lived mediated space, for example, Facebook, Sweety and Bee actively participate in articulating social and cultural practices where they can directly talk to their thousands of Facebook friends and, in return, their audiences can speak back to them.…”

“…However, anonymity raised an unforeseen ethical dilemma, as many participants wanted me to use their real names. Previously I have explored encamped youth political agency and gendered relations and acknowledged that: 'When an individual or group has been forcefully displaced and separated from their community, often the only things they perceived [themselves] to have left are their stories and experiences, but most importantly, their names' (Hill, 2022a). I contend that there is a need for more reflection and discussion around the theme of anonymity and how it might not always be the best approach when working with institutionalised or otherwise marginalised research informants.…”

Developing Students’ Nationalism Character through Video-Based Learning in Pancasila Education in the Disruption Era

“…So student presentations have been documented through videos, then uploaded on the Youtube platform. This strategy turned out to affect the character of students, especially the character of nationalism so based on data obtained in the field by distributing questionnaires to 28 students at IAIN Pontianak after attending the Pancasila Education course through video-based learning in the era of disruption, it shows that there is a success rate of building the character of student nationalism by 90% (25 students) can understand JPI P-ISSN: 2303-288X E-ISSN: 2541-7207 and implement in everyday life, Then there are still 10% (3 students) who have not been able to understand and implement the character of nationalism in everyday life, such as prioritizing public or social interests rather than personal interests and caring about the environment (Hill, 2022;Surono, 2017). The results of the study are relevant to the results of previous research conducted by Syarapuddin and Elihami and Yudianto, the results of the study show that video-based learning can increase the learning motivation of students in learning Pancasila and Citizenship Education in the C package chase class in Enrekang Regency, South Sulawesi Province (Syaparuddin & Elihami, 2020).…”