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Among Young People in Togo, Social Media Provide Social Remediation

Received: 23 January 2022     Accepted: 8 February 2022     Published: 16 February 2022
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Abstract

The notion of re-mediation sheds light on a shift that takes place gradually from action to reaction, from adjustment to readjustment, from formatting to reformatting, from mediatisation to re-mediatisation, from information to re-information. This shift is not trivial. It underlines the need for a rebalancing, a reorientation of policies and even information, communication and digital strategies. Following this logic, this paper presents social media as a tool of social remediation, in other words, resolving certain issues related to people's place in society and their relationships with others. By favouring speech and social mediation in various virtual discussion forums, social media helps citizens reconnect with the "palaver tree" and "grin" in traditional African societies. The palaver tree is well known, the grin a little less. The term "grin" signifies a place of meeting, entertainment and discussion. It is used in the Bambara cultural sphere (Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast), suggesting that it is a French transliteration of the word "gεrε", which has the same meaning and pronunciation in Bambara. Traditional media outlets have tended to replace these meetings dedicated to speech and discussions, without necessarily fulfilling the same functions. By reconstituting them, social media places citizens at the centre of the mediatised public space, from which they had been excluded. We are thus witnessing remediation, insofar as social media introduces citizens to an agora that was previously inaccessible.

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 11, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ss.20221101.13
Page(s) 14-21
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Social Media, Mediation, Social Remediation, Lomé’s Young People, Usage

References
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    Etienne Damome. (2022). Among Young People in Togo, Social Media Provide Social Remediation. Social Sciences, 11(1), 14-21. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221101.13

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    Etienne Damome. Among Young People in Togo, Social Media Provide Social Remediation. Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(1), 14-21. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221101.13

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    AMA Style

    Etienne Damome. Among Young People in Togo, Social Media Provide Social Remediation. Soc Sci. 2022;11(1):14-21. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221101.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ss.20221101.13,
      author = {Etienne Damome},
      title = {Among Young People in Togo, Social Media Provide Social Remediation},
      journal = {Social Sciences},
      volume = {11},
      number = {1},
      pages = {14-21},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20221101.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221101.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20221101.13},
      abstract = {The notion of re-mediation sheds light on a shift that takes place gradually from action to reaction, from adjustment to readjustment, from formatting to reformatting, from mediatisation to re-mediatisation, from information to re-information. This shift is not trivial. It underlines the need for a rebalancing, a reorientation of policies and even information, communication and digital strategies. Following this logic, this paper presents social media as a tool of social remediation, in other words, resolving certain issues related to people's place in society and their relationships with others. By favouring speech and social mediation in various virtual discussion forums, social media helps citizens reconnect with the "palaver tree" and "grin" in traditional African societies. The palaver tree is well known, the grin a little less. The term "grin" signifies a place of meeting, entertainment and discussion. It is used in the Bambara cultural sphere (Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast), suggesting that it is a French transliteration of the word "gεrε", which has the same meaning and pronunciation in Bambara. Traditional media outlets have tended to replace these meetings dedicated to speech and discussions, without necessarily fulfilling the same functions. By reconstituting them, social media places citizens at the centre of the mediatised public space, from which they had been excluded. We are thus witnessing remediation, insofar as social media introduces citizens to an agora that was previously inaccessible.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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    AB  - The notion of re-mediation sheds light on a shift that takes place gradually from action to reaction, from adjustment to readjustment, from formatting to reformatting, from mediatisation to re-mediatisation, from information to re-information. This shift is not trivial. It underlines the need for a rebalancing, a reorientation of policies and even information, communication and digital strategies. Following this logic, this paper presents social media as a tool of social remediation, in other words, resolving certain issues related to people's place in society and their relationships with others. By favouring speech and social mediation in various virtual discussion forums, social media helps citizens reconnect with the "palaver tree" and "grin" in traditional African societies. The palaver tree is well known, the grin a little less. The term "grin" signifies a place of meeting, entertainment and discussion. It is used in the Bambara cultural sphere (Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast), suggesting that it is a French transliteration of the word "gεrε", which has the same meaning and pronunciation in Bambara. Traditional media outlets have tended to replace these meetings dedicated to speech and discussions, without necessarily fulfilling the same functions. By reconstituting them, social media places citizens at the centre of the mediatised public space, from which they had been excluded. We are thus witnessing remediation, insofar as social media introduces citizens to an agora that was previously inaccessible.
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Author Information
  • MICA (Mediation, Information, Communication, Arts) Research Unit, Bordeaux Montaigne University, Bordeaux, France

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