Presented by: Dr Leon Salter

Dystopian visions forecasting a bleak future for democracy have been in ascendancy since the US 2016 election’s alleged manipulation of voters by organisations like data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica.  Such visions stand in stark contrast to utopian narratives of both the 1990s and early 2010s, which forecasted a “digital democracy” that would usher in a new dawn of empowerment and emancipation.

This talk seeks to move beyond arguments about whether contemporary democracies have been ‘hijacked’. Instead, I see this period of forced reflection as an opportunity to re-focus our attention on both the shortcomings of liberal representative democracies and the model of digital democracy as it has been previously envisaged.  My main line of critique is that digital democracy has previously reinforced the neoliberal model of the isolated individual consumer of political products, which restricts our abilities to see ourselves as part of a larger civic body.  I therefore want to explore what critical theory, indigenous thought, social movements, and some existing platforms can teach us about broadening the subject who ‘does’ digital democracy, thereby incorporating aspects such as relationality and affect.

Biography:

Leon is a tutor in Media and Communications at Massey University, currently teaching popular culture, political communication and investigative journalism.  He writes on the intersections between journalism, education, digital communications and social movements and how critical theory can inform these fields. His PhD (Massey University) examined the mediated politics surrounding education in Aotearoa and the effects of social movements in constructing alternatives to neoliberal instrumentalism.  He holds a MSc in Social Research Methods from the Open University and a BA in Media, Culture and Society from the University of Birmingham.