FASE N° 3 — Recopilar la información

Since this is the first analysis chapter, it is important to signify at the onset that a crucial factor in shaping analysis at this level is the language choice made by the bloggers. Taking into consideration that this applies to the remaining chapters as well, choosing English as a medium for communication – which is neither the native language of the country nor a second language – clearly impacts the readership of the posts. These posts can therefore only be read by either Saudis who are proficient in reading in English or by an international audience interested in finding out about Saudi society. This directly affects the reception of such posts and could be intended to exclude readers who are not highly educated or not exposed to Western Anglophone culture. On the other hand, this restriction is opposed by unlimited accessibility by the inherent nature of public blog posts. Basically, anybody from anywhere in the world can access these posts at any time as long as he or she has internet access and can read English. In addition to this overview of reception and distribution, the following sections highlight the main findings with regards to intertextuality and interdiscursivity.

4.2.1. Non-hyperlinked intertextuality and interdiscursivity

It has been established in section 3.2 that a multiplicity of texts and discourses within a given text signifies their recontextualisation along the lines of the discursive practices around that text. It has also been established that the identification at this level highlights both the voice and the footing achieved in these posts through this multiplicity. To begin with, almost all the posts have instances of internally persuasive language signifying the dialogue assumed to take place between the bloggers and their readers. The example

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below demonstrates this dialogue, which should be expected given the inherent dialogic- relations between bloggers posts and their readers. However, in certain posts, 6 for instance, the authoritative tone in the text is more prominent than the persuasive tone. This is mainly due to the news genre often reflected in Ahmed Al Omran’s posts.

13-14. If you take a closer look at the left hand corner, you’ll see a photo of Mrs. Nora Al Fayez right underneath a photo of the new head of the muttawa vice police. (post 1) With regard to footing and multivoicedness in posts, it is not surprising that the bloggers are predominately assuming the author role, with women, whether appointed, supporters or in general as in 34 below being the topic. Less often, the bloggers assume the animator role when presenting the claims of the opponents through indirect speech. Interestingly, supporters are allowed direct speech in both post 5 and 6, either in form of the pasted tweets or the direct quote from the Saudi woman activist Badriyah al-Bisher. Aside from these examples, interdiscursivity is also present in these posts. Being originally based on discourse in gender, it is not surprising that a multiplicity of discourses is traced in this topic as well. Clearly, instances of political discourse are present across all of these posts, given the focus of this topic. In addition, this religious discourse is introduced for example in post 2, when controversial fatwas on women empowerment are being refuted and attacked (see example 12 in section 5.2.2).

34. Eman Al Asfour, Iman Fallatah and Khulood Al Fahad have decided to take things into their own hands (post 2)

4.2.2. Hyperlinked intertextuality and interdiscursivity

As discussed earlier in section 3.2.3.2, this level is mainly concerned with the different links created in these posts to other semiotic expressions outside the original post. Generally speaking, these links can be classified into four main kinds:

1. Hyperlinks linking to other writings by the same blogger, whether linking to pages on the same blog, tweets on Twitter, or to pieces in online newspapers and news sources.

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2. Hyperlinks linking to international webpages outside the region. These might range from news pieces and reports to personal posts.

3. Hyperlinks linking to national and local webpages, whether in Arabic or English. 4. Hyperlinks to posts by the other bloggers included in this study, or any supporters

and pro-woman activists posting on their personal spaces, whether blogs, Twitter or Facebook.

That being said, it is time to examine how intertextuality works in this particular section. However, due to the dynamic and changing nature of the worldwide web and the fact that these posts were put online between 2009-2012, some links are no longer working. Nevertheless, these will still be included since it still can be inferred from the web address what kind of pages they link to. Starting with the first kind, there are six cases in which the bloggers refer to their own posts. Most of these, five links, are present in post 5 and the remaining one is in 12 below:

12. Since a lot of younger Saudis have started to question the fatwas about women being incapable. (post 2)

There are four international links. Among the linked pages are Globalpost.com, which is an American world news site, National Geographic and finally Time Magazine, an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. Third, eight links fall under the third category, two of which link to English pages in Arabnews, an English- language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia, and both of them are in posts 3 and 4 by Qusay. The remaining links link to Arabic webpages including Alarabiya.net, the online version of the pan-Arab news channel, Al Arabiya, Al Sharq Al Awsat, the world's premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, Al Hayat, a daily pan-Arab newspaper, and finally, Al Watan, a daily newspaper in Saudi Arabia. Finally, there are the links of the fourth kind, linking to other bloggers and supporters of the same cause in their own personal spaces. These take the lead compared to other links, reaching a total of 25. 36.a below exemplifies this kind:

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36.a. Besides joining the campaign on its Facebook page, Saudis can actually take part by sending in their contact information, suggestions and how they can help (post 2). This is actually a Facebook page for Balady, i.e. ‘my country’ in Arabic, a national pro- woman and independent campaign aiming to spread its cause and have representatives in all 14 districts of Saudi Arabia. The remaining links are all in post 5 and they link to tweets by supporters of women and their reactions to the inclusion decision. Such reactions, as discussed in the textual level above, range from sheer happiness and optimism to frustration as they ask for more rights. These supporters include both males and females, as well as Saudis and non-Saudis. Most of these are posting using their full names but quite a few use nicknames. Also, in these tweets in particular, one might detect how the different genre of tweets is embedded within these blog posts. Abbreviated structures as well as hashtags and emotion symbols are commonly used. Table 4.6 summarises these findings:

Table 4.6: Distribution of hyperlinks in topic 1

Link to: Number of links %

same blogger/poster 6 13.96

International pages 4 9.30

local pages 8 18.60

other bloggers/supporters 25 58.14

Total 43 100

A last word is required here on the comments posted by the readers of these blogs in response to the posts under study. While posts 4 and 6 have no comments, the remaining

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blog posts included a total of 35 responses. All of these are by supporters and pro-woman readers, which, in turn, give a clear idea of who is reading these posts. Perhaps the only exception to this is in post 1, where there is a comment by someone named Abu Mohammed, who is applauding Nora Al Fayz as an accomplished woman but at the same time does not mind casting sexist ideas about women. From such a perspective, he links women who demand their rights, including freedom of movement, to immorality. A very detailed response by another woman follows and counterclaims his post. This means that the comment section can be described as being almost exclusively dominated by supporters, a fact that is consistent with the above table.

The findings presented in table 4.6 are consistent with the discussion of voice and footing in the previous section. This is evident for example in the dialogue highlighted between these bloggers and their supporters and how this is reflected in the high percentage of links of the third kind. Clearly, supporters are allowed more existence in these posts, which is also consistent with the findings of the textual level. Opponents on the other hand are almost non-existent in these links, which adds to the negative image created of them in metaphoric expressions or evaluative language for instance. This clearly serves to present these opponents as being degrading of women, while at the same denying these opponents access to these blogs, given the choice to write in English. The following section will examine the third level of analysis, comprising the social and cognitive factors underlying these textual and discursive choices.