Focus Groups with Asef Bayat, Linda Herrera and Young Researchers at the BA
Posted on
The BA Futuristic Studies Unit organized on Monday, 17 July 2011 a Focus Group on Empirical Tackling hosting Professor Asef Bayat, Professor of Sociology and Middle East Studies University of Illinois, and Dr. Linda Herrera, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois, as the main speakers, in addition to a selected group of young Egyptian Researchers.
The event included three successive sessions on informal education, social media and art in light of the 25th of January Revolution.
The first session discussed the intensive youth activities during the last decade with the establishment of youth initiatives and NGOs , which provided the main platform for youth involvement other than political work. However, gradually those young people turned from youth activities to direct political action. Khaled Said’s death was a turning point for many, while the period from 25 to 28 January 2011 was the cliff for the younger generation.
Participants suggested involving informal education programs into formal educational system with special focus on building the national identity.
In the session on Social Media, researchers explained the differences between traditional social media, including posters and graffiti, and new media tools with the use of mobile phones and the Internet. They attempted to define different terms used in that regard such as citizen journalism, people’s media, grass root media and collaborative journalism. Participants also discussed interactive patters in all these frameworks that share decentralization as an alternative media platform.
During the third session on Art, different Alexandrian graffiti was analyzed with a special focus on the relation between beauty and ugliness as far as the Revolution was concerned, and the social, educational and cultural influences on professional and amateur artists.