Chronotopes, entextualization and Syrian political activism on Facebook

This article discusses the intersection of language choice, identity and online political activism in the context of the 2011 Syrian uprising by bringing together the notions of entextualization and chronotopes. The data is drawn from a longitudinal analysis of two Syrian dissidents' Facebook pages between 2010 and 2012 as part of a study of Syrian dissidents' digital practices. Through an analysis of their status updates and their friends' comments, I show how the repertoire of these two Syrian dissidents changed abruptly with the onset of the 2011 uprising. The shift in repertoire underlies the emergence of distinct chronotopic identities, through which both subjects re-positioned themselves vis-a-vis the sociopolitical context: cosmopolitan identities before and dissident identities after the uprising. The article contributes to the study of chronotopic identities by showing how processes of entextualization are chronotopically informed, particularly in a context of socio-political upheaval. Additionally, it sheds further light on the role of technology in social and political change.