The first meeting of the second set of Professional Meetings of UNESCO Chairs in Culture and Cyberspace in 2017-2018 academic year was held in Iran Hall of the Faculty of Orld Studies on Tuesday, October 10. Farzane Siasi Rad, alumnus of Cultural and Media Studies of the Faculty of Social Sciences spoke at the meeting about “Globalization in Cyberspace and Its Outcomes for National Citizenship through the Perspective of ‘Cultural Citizenship’”.
Clash of the nationalities as political units with the outcomes of globalization has expanded due to the new communication technologies. This can be regarded as the most important issue against national and civil identities in the contemporary era. This issue, which more accurately could be called globalization in the context of the second space, has brought about a revision of the concept of citizenship.
To provide a proper image of the impacts of cyberspace on the citizenship status of users, considering the current capacity of literature on citizenship, the theories of “cultural citizenship” seem to be practical. “Cultural citizenship” is one of the latest theories about citizenship. It focuses on the incapability of traditional citizenship theories in their response to new phenomena since the emergence of global media cultures. “Cultural citizenship” concentrates on the necessity of redefining cooperation and the elements of national citizenship and also on the special role of citizens (users) in redefining and debating over these elements. Achieving this debating understanding in the context of citizenship requires a complete connection and relationship between three seemingly separate sections. (1) Generating a realization of national citizenship in the real space; (2) quality and nature of cooperative acts between users and the construction of citizenship elements in the second space; and (3) the debates between these two frameworks of citizenship.
- National Citizenship
The first part of the model seeks a better understanding of the status of users’ national citizenship in the real space. It is in relation with the understanding of national citizenship and its elements through the traditional theories. According to the traditional theories of citizenship, the elements of rights, responsibilities, connection, and feeling are considered the main elements in defining national citizenship in political, social, civil, and cultural dimensions.
- Replacement Models of Citizenship
Understanding the nature of new user cooperation in cyberspace is the result of a set of “cultural citizenship” theories that are mostly rooted in the tradition of cultural studies. These have considered the role of media in promoting civil capabilities in the contemporary era. This set of theories focuses on the priority of media and communication technologies as the medium between citizens and central spaces to produce culture, knowledge, and cooperation.
- Debate Space
Paining this space is mostly indebted to sociology theorists. According to this set of theories, what ultimately leads to the feeling of membership and cultural inclusion is the communicational, symbolic, and debating acts of citizens in everyday life. In this sense, the construction of national and citizenship identity must be sought in the context of these very acts and in the framework of cooperation in the second space.
