Culture, Identity, and Political Action: A Comparative Study of Tibetan and Uyghur Use of Social Media

Abstract

The recent rapid growth in information technologies such as the internet and mobile phones have added new possibilities for interaction and communication. As groups, movements, and political organizations seek to spread their message to the widest possible audience they have adopted new social media technologies to gather support for their causes. Tibetans and Uyghurs are ethnic groups in China and surrounding countries that contain strong social movements around their cultural identity, geographic location, and political independence. This thesis analyzes how Tibetans and Uyghurs maintain their cultural identity under the umbrella dominance of China through social media use, using the example of more than 70,000 tweets that show how Tibetans and Uyghurs use different actors, strategies, and content used to promote culture and identity.