Review Symposium on The Digital Double Bind

2024. Mohamed Zayani and Joe F. Khalil. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780197508626

As digital technologies permeate every aspect of life, tensions and contradictions arise when global digital norms intersect with diverse local realities. In The Digital Double Bind, Mohamed Zayani and Joe F. Khalil present rich case studies to explore how the digital transformation of media in the Middle East intersects with the region's complex political, economic, and socio-cultural dynamics. The authors contend that the region is trapped in a double bind, where the same conditions that drive the state, market, and public immersion in the digital also inhibit the region's drive to change.

In a new essay for Global Perspectives, authors Mohamed Zayani and Joe F. Khalil reflect on digital transformation progress in the MENA region since finalizing their manuscript, presenting further insights into their research and the digital double bind framework. Global Perspectives has also invited leading media researchers from around the globe to review and comment on The Digital Double Bind, as well as respond to the author’s reflective essay.