Blogging politics in Cuba : the framing of political discourse in the Cuban blogosphere

While a growing literature is exploring blogs and blogospheres as loci for informal political engagement, the development of political discourse via specific framing dynamics in blogging practice has so far been overlooked. By investigating the content of 62 blogs from four different ideological streams, this study specifically focuses on the Cuban blogosphere to address the question of how political consciousness and potential for collective action may emerge in blogging practice. Findings show that 1) critical evaluations, personal narratives and traditional socialist rhetoric mix as the raw materials of an emerging online political debate; 2) this particular mix varies depending on the political leaning of the bloggers; 3) potential for collective action is very limited mostly due to the lack of a strong agency component among critical bloggers and the still heavy presence of an outdated socialist rhetoric among state-aligned bloggers.