Editorial: Conceptualising ‘Muslim Diaspora’

Inhabiting Cyberspace and Emerging Cyberplaces

This concluding chapter summarises the benefits of using the notion of inhabiting cyberspace when analysing the websites of communities and neighbourhoods. Broadly speaking, the conclusions examine the results of the case study in the light of those studies reviewed in Chap. 2. It highlights that inhabiting cyberplaces based on the World Wide Web has become an important part of inhabiting the contemporary world. Outside pressures and the omnipresent threat of surveillance make it essential for neighbourhoods and communities, particularly those of interest for tourists and those involved in organising world-famous events, to unlock cyberspace. Online representations are, therefore, performat…

Unfolding Cyberspace: Cyberplaces of the Contrade and the Style of Representation in the Global Arena

This chapter shows that, in the online representation of the contrade of Siena, the global level is not opposed to the local but is, instead, a particular way in which the local is represented. The method of placing their community on the global stage is that of an idealised inhabitation, one which also allows them to keep control over the formation of their collective identities. Furthermore, it shows that in the globalised world, the neighbourhoods of Siena encounter a global interest in their way of life which has made them alter their modes of self-representation . In order to position themselves in both local and global contexts, they have chosen to use the World Wide Web to present th…

The Symbolical Realm and Historical Framework of the Contrade

The chapter describes the contemporary symbolism of the contrade and its historic development in order to allow the reader to follow the subsequent analysis of the content of the contrade’s websites, in which symbols play a key role. It suggests that the contrade of Siena make significant use of mediaeval and Renaissance signs and symbol s such as particular colours, flags, and instruments. Members of a contrada build a community based on a specific district of Siena, and their lives are heavily focused on what is deemed necessary to the win a horse race called palio .

Muslim Atmospheres as Neighbourhoods of Religious Diasporic Microspheres

In many countries around the globe, Muslims not only form a statistical religious minority, but also are mainly regarded as a homogeneous group by the average citizen, the press and politicians. Concepts of Muslim diaspora seem to frequently reinforce this idea, implying that Muslims are building a global community endangering supposedly peaceful cohabitation within nation-states. In contrast, this article, based on a case study in Argentina, shows that diasporic communities can be fruitfully conceptualised as socio-cultural orders with a special ‘atmosphere’, which is formed by the emotional connections between group members and their surroundings, which transcend borders of nation-states.…

Methodology and Methods for Analysing Websites

This chapter describes the methodology, methods, and analytical schemes developed for and applied to the case study of the contrade of Siena. It presents no general research design, but, rather, demonstrates a possible method for designing one. The author suggests that “virtual ethnography” and “Netnography ” provide convincing methodological foundations for the establishment of research designs that can be combined with a phenomenological theoretical perspective. However, these approaches do not offer a satisfying methodology to analysing the content of the web pages, and therefore a possible content analysis, based on ideas from the semiotics of pragmatism, as developed by Peirce and his …

The Content of the Websites: Emergence of Intimate Cyberplaces

On the basis of an interpretation of the content of the contrade’s websites, this chapter proposes that these communities unlock cyberspace through inhabiting cyberplaces. They local ise cyberspace, making it concrete and create intimacy by highlighting their history, special places, and maps of their district, announcing events and posting pictures of them, presenting and explaining their symbol ism, exhibiting emblems and artefacts, and by listing the names and showing pictures of community members and horses that have taken part in the palio. By constructing websites in such a way, the contrade inhabit cyberplaces that are characterised by intimacy and familiarity , as they present their…

Unfolding Cyberspace: A Phenomenological Approach to Cyberplace, Technology, and Community

In this chapter, a possible phenomenology of the cyberspaces of the World Wide Web is outlined. Recent studies have suggested that concepts of existential phenomenology can provide convincing perspectives on cyberspace that enable a deep understanding of contemporary life, characterised by an increased blending of humans and modern technology . Based on the notions of “coming-to-the-world” coined by Peter Sloterdijk and “inhabiting ” from Tim Ingold , this chapter shows how we can conceive of the emergence of cyberplace s as a by-product of the process of unlocking cyberspace by inhabiting the contemporary world. This perspective also incorporates arguments from Actor-Network Theory and can…

The Contemporary Contrade of Siena

This chapter will provide the background information that is required in order to contextualise further analysis, doing so by outlining the main aspects of daily life within the contrade of Siena and the social and institutional organisation of those institutions. It proposes that their social order has to be interpreted in relation to the palio horse race, a festival which takes place biannually in Siena’s central square, and which is visited by a significant number of national and international tourists.

The Websites of the Contrade

This chapter presents and analyses the outgoing and incoming links of the contrade’s websites as a preface to the interpretative analysis of the following two chapters. The analysis suggests that the contrade inhabit , on the World Wide Web , places that create intimacy. This chapter proposes that the contrade appropriate and use new technologies as part of their processes of community building . They attempt to present themselves to various outsiders in a way that, on the surface, is uniform, but which, at a deeper level, is fragmented.

Geographies of Cyberspace: Internet, Community, Space, and Place

This chapter “Geographies of Cyberspace” discusses the term “cyberspace” in relation to the concepts of “space”, “place”, and “community” by reviewing the academic literature from human geography, sociology, and cultural anthropology. It forms the basis for the development of a phenomenological perspective on cyberspace. Instead of presenting all possible approaches towards cyberspace, this chapter discusses only those concepts that focus on the connections between on- and offline life. It proposes that cyberspace not only includes spatial and territorial metaphors , as several human geographers have pointed out, but that it is also characterised by complex geographies, which have to be exp…