Introduction

Abstract

There has been a dramatic increase in the attention paid to the role of media and communication technologies in processes of social change around the world in the immediate aftermath of the so-called Arab Spring that began to unfold at the end of 2010. Surrounded by hype and buzzwords such as the ‘Twitter or Facebook revolution’, media and communication technologies have been celebrated as vehicles for rapid political mobilization and alleged to have made a considerable impact on political life, agency and the public sphere. Some of these debates have sparked renewed energy and interest in the longstanding issues and questions at the heart of Communication for Development and Social Change (CDSC). Others, however, have been haunted by techno-determinism, media-centrism and a lack of analytical sensitivity towards the contingencies of the geopolitical and cultural contexts of these events and the specificities of how media and communication practices are appropriated by different groups of citizens. Looking back at these ‘years of protest’ and social unrest, as they have been labelled, calls for a deeper moment of critical reflection.