Cyberidentities at War—The Moluccan Conflict on the Internet

"Conflicting parties worldwide increasingly use the Internet in a strategic way, and conflicts carried out on a local level achieve a new dimension. This new kind of medialization results in a conflict's expansion into global cyberspace. Based on ethnographic research on the online activities of Christian and Muslim actors in the Moluccan conflict (1999-2003), this study investigates processes of identity construction, community building, and evolving conflict dynamics on the Internet. An innovative contribution to conflict and Internet research, this study paves the way for a new cyber anthropology. A newly added epilogue outlines the directions in which the situation in the Moluccas has continued and discusses the advances and developments of theoretical and methodological concerns presented in the 2005 German edition"--Provided by publisher.

Birgit Brauchler teaches at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany. She is editor of Reconciling Indonesia (Routledge 2009), co-editor of Theorising Media and Practice (Berghahn Books 2010), and has published several book chapters and articles on media and cyberanthropology, conflict and peace studies, cultural rights and the revival of tradition.