Rural Media Studies

Rashid Gabdulhakov is an assistant professor in the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies at the University of Groningen, Netherlands.Marc Esteve del Valle is a senior lecturer in the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies at the University of Groningen, Netherlands.

• Introduction: Rural Media Studies From a Global PerspectiveRashid Gabdulhakov and Marc Esteve del Valle (both University of Groningen, Netherlands)1. Towards a “Platform Rurality”: The Co-Design Experience of Community-Based Cooperatives from Abruzzo (Italy)Antonio Opromolla (University of L’Aquila, Italy), Fabio Virgilio (CulTurMedia Legacoop, Italy) and Francesca Belotti (University of L'Aquila, Italy)2. Digital Political Participation in Rural Kazakhstan: Evidence from Three VillagesYerkebulan Sairambay (University of Tartu, Estonia)3. Balancing Ethics and Closeness: Voices from Rural Journalists in Norway and SpainCristóbal Mora Bieli-Bianchi (Nord University, Norway)4. ‘A Digital Threat?’ The Impact of Technology on the Continuity of Folk Media in EthiopiaHagos Nigussie (Paderborn University, Germany)5. Rural and Regional Media and First Nations Nation-Building in AustraliaHolly Randell-Moon (Charles Sturt University, Australia)6. The Structure of Rural Journalism: Population, Isolation, and IndependenceTyler W. S. Nagel (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Canada), Scott A. Eldridge II (University of Groningen, Netherlands) and Marcel Broersma (University of Groningen, Netherlands)7. “Now We Are More Llike in the City”: Digitalization of Everyday Life in Rural-Indigenous Communities of the Lithium TriangleMartina Di Tullio (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina)8. Playing with and Reconstructing the Rural-Urban Duality: Thracian Village Women’s Digital Media PerformanceFeride Güner (Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey)9. Smartphones, Surveillance, and Leisure: Rural Women’s Digital Negotiations in KeralaRenza Kalarikkandy Maliyekkal (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands)10. Exploring Social Media as a Tool for Representation Among Rural YouthSindisiwe Mbili (Durban University of Technology, South Africa)11. Digitalisation in Agriculture: Intergenerational Knowledge Transfer and Changing Communication Structures on Farms in AustriaCorinna Peil and Ricarda Drüeke (both University of Salzburg, Austria)Conclusion: Rural Media Studies: Lessons, Challenges, and the Road AheadRashid Gabdulhakov and Marc Esteve del Valle (both University of Groningen, Netherlands)IndexAbout the EditorsAbout the Contributors

Too often, the rural is placed only in contrast to the urban, understood as an absence rather than a presence. Rural Media Studies corrects this, placing rurality at the center of a rich, global and deeply textured narrative. Blending inviting storytelling, vital empirical data and thoughtful theoretical discussions, Rural Media Studies dismantles the dated rural monolith, highlights the varied realities of communities across continents and demonstrates how structural inequalities play out across different media landscapes and platforms. The result is a fresh, important and genuinely urgent perspective that reshapes how we understand the rural in everyday life.