Latest columns

Interested in globalization? Watch cricket

A closer look at the traction of the Cricket World Cup 2019

Column

Jan Blommaert

25/06/2019

7 minutes to read

The Cricket World Cup 2019 is a global media event of enormous size, while cricket itself is practiced only in a relatively small area in the world. How come?

On being diagnosed with irony poisoning

Column

Piia Varis

14/03/2019

8 minutes to read

What is irony poisoning? And should we really take it seriously as scholars? Piia Varis (Tilburg University) joins the debate.

Chinese intellectuals, digital media, weibo,

Where have the Chinese public intellectuals gone?

Column

Mingyi Hou

12/03/2019

9 minutes to read

In the democratization paradigm the focus is on the question to what extent media institutions are free from state intervention. In this column, Mingyi Hou questions the usefulness of this paradigm to explain why Chinese public intellectuals seem to be disappearing.

What linguistic landscapes hide

Column

Jan Blommaert

11/03/2019

6 minutes to read

Offline linguistic landscapes hide a lot that only becomes overt when one traces these landscapes to their online extensions. It is by this move that we begin to get a grasp of the real complexity of "local" phenomena in a superdiverse world.

The return of the Culture Wars

Column

Ana Deumert

28/02/2019

7 minutes to read

In this column Ana Deumert reflects on the return of the cultures wars at universities and in popular culture. She suggests that the culture wars were not just a phenomenon of the 1980s and 1990s, but that they are continuing.

Fan communication on Weibo

Column

Mingyi Hou

19/02/2019

9 minutes to read

Nowadays, fans speak in a ritualistic and phatic manner on Weibo. They interpret Weibo’s popularity metrics and algorithms and use them for strategic communicative practices, aiming at boosting positive publicity and high media visibility for idols.

Russian Doll: Television in Digital Culture

Column

Suzanne van der Beek

14/02/2019

5 minutes to read

With Russian Doll, Netflix brings us a new innovative TV show that plays with video game storytelling, social media humor, and the bending of gendered stereotypes.

Leaving the Heartbreak Hotel online & offline.

Column

Ashna Coster

14/02/2019

7 minutes to read

This article provides a reflection on heartbreak in the digital workds, which means that one is breaking up online as well as offline. Unfollow or unfriend one another on social media and if necessary look up self-help tips on how to move on.

Greta Thunberg and the #climatestrike are shaping the climate debate

Column

Piia Varis

07/02/2019

7 minutes to read

Through their online and offline activities, Greta Thunberg and the #climatestrike youth are successful in steering the discussion around climate change away from mere individualised solutions towards questions of systemic injustice.

Facebook Birthday, Facebook old, Wechat, Weibo

Facebook is old: the Ford-T of social media just turned 15

Column

Jan Blommaert

05/02/2019

6 minutes to read

The very thing that has made Facebook great also makes it obsolete. Designed in the very early years of the 21st century and swept up in a wave of tremendous technological developments, Facebook now looks, and feels, almost medieval.

A peek into Salvini's taxonomy of migration

Column

Max Spotti

01/02/2019

4 minutes to read

The Italian Minister of Interior, Matteo Salvini, never misses an opportunity to entertain us with his law and order enforcement policies. But how destructive is his strong discourse on migration policies?

So, let's talk about food revolution

Column

Thi Phuong Anh Nguyen

31/01/2019

7 minutes to read

The truth of saving the world is way simpler than what we used to think. Changing your eating habit is the first step that anyone can take to change the world, and welcome to food revolution.

How WeChat was used in the 2018 elections in The Hague

Column

Linmin Zheng

24/01/2019

6 minutes to read

This article analyzes the Chinees dimension of the 2018 election in The Hague, The Netherlands. On the basis of concrete data Linmin Zheng argues that even local politics have become translocal.