General Information – My name is Maya de Vries Kedem. I am an ethnographic researcher who loves to be at the field-site and believe that a good research can lead to an action. My interests are social media, digital activism, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jerusalem/al-Quds. I also love documentary making and believe in the power of this genre to create waves of change.
I am currently working on a longterm ethnographic research in East Jerusalem focusing on ageing and digital platforms. This is an international project led by Prof. Daniel Miller from UCL.
Important achievements
One of the great achievements of my current research is its “action” since the majority of the informants are having a lot of difficulties to operate their smartphones, we launched a unique course of 15 meetings at the field site of “how to use your smartphone”. So far, the course is a success and we hope to open more groups.
Recent studies
- How Local is the Digital Public Sphere on Twitter? A Comparison between Jerusalem and Berlin. (Pfetsch, B., Waldherr, A., Kligler-Vilenchick, N., Maier, D., Stoltenberg, D. & de Vries, M)
- The Role of Social Media within Disadvantaged Communities in Intractable Conflict Zones: The Case Study of East Jerusalem Palestinians (de Vries M. PhD dissertation)
Publications
- de Vries, M., Kligler-Vilenchik, N., Alyan, E., Ma’oz, M., & Maoz, I. (2017). Digital contestation in protracted conflict: The online struggle over al-Aqsa Mosque. The Communication Review, 20(3), 189–211. doi.org/10.1080/10714421.2017.1362814
- de Vries, M., Simry, A., & Maoz, I. (2015). Like a bridge over troubled water: Using Facebook to mobilize solidarity among East Jerusalem Palestinians during the 2014 war in Gaza. International Journal of Communication, 9, 2622–2649. Available at: http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/3581
- de Vries, M. & Maoz, I. (2013). Tracking for peace: Assessing the effectiveness of Track Two Diplomacy in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, 6(1–3), 62–74. doi.org/10.1080/17467586.2013.861074