“E-Participation in Jamaica: Can Facebook Encourage Political Talk among Politically Apathetic Jamaican Youth?” is the topic of the presentation to be delivered by Dr. Lloyd Waller, Lecturer, Department of Government at UWI, Mona. The presentation will be a part of the Department’s Seminar Series and is slated to take place on Thursday, March 22 at 2:30 pm at Seminar Room 4 (SR4), UWI, Mona.
               
His presentation will explore the impact or lack thereof of Online Social Networks such as Facebook as a means of addressing political apathy among young people in Jamaica. The presentation is based on a study and will explore the possibilities of Facebook as a means of addressing political apathy among young people in Jamaica. The findings of this study indicate that Facebook does not encourage Jamaican youth, with active Facebook accounts who do not usually participate in political talk offline to participate in political talk online. Rather, Facebook serves as an extension to the voice of the politically charged youth. The findings also indicate that there are still wider systematic, socio-cultural and political challenges to political talk among Jamaican youth which still need to be addressed.
 
All are invited to attend.