Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the role of social media in ethnographic research among the youth in the postcolonial context. It is based on author's field research conducted among young women in Nairobi, Kenya. It presents cases where tumblr, facebook, blogs etc. are crucial for women's narratives.

Paper long abstract:

The core premise of postcolonial methodology is the interviewee's right to narrate their own story using their own words. During the author's ethnographic research in Nairobi, the respondents were surprisingly often referring to social media as an important background of their actions. The stories based on facebook, blogosphere and tumblr underline the meaning of the social media sphere in creating one's own narrative. Some of them either inspired the respondents or precipitated them to action. Moreover, the social media give young Kenyan women a chance to express their views and emotions in a way they couldn't be expressed through different channels. It also creates opportunities for them to influence their environment and realize their aims. This should be concerned as a valuable ethnographic source, as social media are consisting of many unheard voices, sometimes crucial for one's indentity and life story.

The paper argues that without taking the respondents' actions in the social media into consideration, any postcolonial research is not fully legitimate. It is illustrated with actual quotes from the author's interviews.