Social media, transnationalism and contentious politics: a study of networked public on the Global Naga Forum’s Facebook page

AbstractThe Global Naga Forum (GNF), a Naga civil society organization, spearheaded the historic Naga solidarity walk on 20 July 2022, to unify the fragmented and dispersed Nagas across borders. GNF’s Facebook page acts as a transnationalizing platform in its attempt to amplify Naga voices and build networks for social and political change. A thematic analysis of 321 textual posts extracted from GNF’s Facebook page reveals key themes such as peace, unity, inclusivity, solidarity, and resilience. Data show that activity spikes around Naga historical landmarks, and the top three types of posts are videos, pictures, and relay posts, with mostly “like” and “love” reactions to videos, pictures, and news updates. The sentiment analysis of the 863 comments reveals maximum positive sentiments in solidarity with the Naga cause and minimal negative expressions attributed to frustration, condemnation, and skepticism. Naga’s contentious politics via social media is constructed as a transnational social movement amplifying their grievances with a non-violent approach. The nationalist factors reveal a strong desire to reclaim the Naga homeland and the right to self-determination. In the role of a choreographer, GNF orients towards the symbolic condensation of the Nagas, based on “a Naga is a Naga” identity.Keywords: Global Naga ForumFacebook pagetransnationalismcontentious politicschoreography of assemblysocial movement Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsAugustin Blessing MuinaoAugustin Blessing Muinao is a Ph.D. researcher in the Department of Mass Communication at Mizoram University, Aizawl, India.Vanamamalai RatnamalaVanamamalai Ratnamala is a Professor in the Department of Mass Communication at Mizoram University, Aizawl, India.