Chafic Tony Najem
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chaficnajem.bsky.social
Chafic Tony Najem
@chaficnajem.bsky.social
9 followers 15 following 3 posts
post-doc fellow @IAS_NUQ

formerly @mediastudies_su & Royal Institute of Art Stockholm
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Reposted by Chafic Tony Najem
mobilemediacomm.bsky.social
📱🔒 Smuggled phones are reshaping life in Lebanon’s prisons.

chaficnajem.bsky.social‬ shows how inmates use illicit tech to reclaim mobility, share realities, & resist confinement - showing the power & limits of digital connectivity.

�� https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2050157925135949436
September 2, 2025 at 1:42 PM
chaficnajem.bsky.social
My latest, Digital Carceral Mobilities, is out now with @mobilemediacomm.bsky.social!
doi.org/10.1177/2050...
September 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
chaficnajem.bsky.social
I may not have a lot of interesting things to say, but I sure know how to act like I do!
@iamcr.org was hectic, but fun!
iasnuq.bsky.social Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South @iasnuq.bsky.social · Jul 17
We closed the day with Chafic Najem's presentation, “Digital Carceral Mobilities: Mobility and Smuggled Mobile Technologies in Prisons.”
July 20, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Reposted by Chafic Tony Najem
mkraidy.bsky.social
Arab Digitalities is on at #IAMCR2025 a panel organized by @chaficnajem.bsky.social for the @iasnuq.bsky.social at @nuqatar.bsky.social Chafic is the first speaker, on Buying Time and Temporal Capital
July 14, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Reposted by Chafic Tony Najem
mkraidy.bsky.social
Now @iasnuq.bsky.social postdoc @chaficnajem.bsky.social presenting his work on Digital Carceral Mobilities at #IAMCR2025 @nuqatar.bsky.social
July 17, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Reposted by Chafic Tony Najem
mkraidy.bsky.social
Yesterday’s @iasnuq.bsky.social #ICA25 preconf Echoes & Overlaps in Arab & African Thought on Media & Culture in partnership with the Center for Media, Religion, & Culture in Boulder featured stimulating & generous conversations on an important yet understudied topic.
June 12, 2025 at 2:53 PM
chaficnajem.bsky.social
ccc-journal.bsky.social Communication, Culture & Critique @ccc-journal.bsky.social · May 23
Check out @chaficnajem.bsky.social's latest on smuggled digital technologies used by incarcerated people in Lebanon, now available from @ccc-journal.bsky.social!

doi.org/10.1093/ccc/...
Prison media mobilization: smuggled technologies and media practices in Lebanese carceral spaces by Chafic Tony Najem in Communication, Culture and Critique, published 15 May, 2025 This article explores the use of smuggled digital technologies by prisoners in Lebanese carceral spaces. Since 2012, prisoners have smuggled cellphones to document and share their experiences and protests, despite efforts by authorities to restrict this access. The study adopts Martín-Barbero’s mediaciones and Mattoni’s activist media practices, to propose “prison media mobilization”—the strategic and illicit reconfiguration of digital technologies by prisoners to subvert constraints and amplify dissent. The analysis focuses on four approaches: representation, production, circulation, and material practices. By examining recordings and contextual information from significant events in Lebanese prisons, the research shows how contraband digital technologies catalyze mobilizations. These technologies document, incite, propagate, and aid prisoners perform acts of defiance against prison conditions. The study highlights the complexity and innovation in prisoners' media practices, calling for a comprehensive framework to understand media mobilizations in carceral spaces.
May 23, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Chafic Tony Najem
paulachak.bsky.social
Read our latest article by @chaficnajem.bsky.social'on smuggled digital technologies and how incarcerated people in Lebanon make their voices heard. With lessons for those interested in abolition media everywhere! Now available from @ccc-journal.bsky.social!

doi.org/10.1093/ccc/...
Prison media mobilization: smuggled technologies and media practices in Lebanese carceral spaces
doi.org
May 23, 2025 at 3:23 PM