Social Media and Youth Peacebuilding Agency: A Case From Muslim Mindanao

Abstract

This article determines how social media, along with institutional affiliation and first-hand experiences of violence, influence youth peacebuilding agency. It utilises the case of a group of university students from Muslim Mindanao in the Philippines who implemented a project that aimed to counter Islamophobia-linked hate speech online. Interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observation were employed during fieldwork. The main argument is that the youth peacebuilding agency does not necessarily rest upon traditional peacebuilding structures. Rather, it lays in structural elements familiar to the youth. Access and familiarity of the youths to social media led them to use it as the platform of the project. The conceptualisation of the project was influenced by their first-hand experience of violence and Mindanao conflict. As university students, their institutional affiliation with the academia had supplemented in meeting the resources they needed. Time constraints and family relationships posed a challenge amongst the youth. The empirical findings of this research hope to contribute to studies on youth agency, peacebuilding, and development in post-conflict contexts.