Hashtag Jurisprudence

Terror and Legality on Twitter

Cassandra Sharp, Associate Professor of Law, University of Wollongong, Australia

This thoroughly engaging book uses empirical analysis to illustrate that the response of individuals to global terror events, via social media, provokes an opportunity to interpret the ways in which individuals view their place in the world and their relation to law and justice. It is through analysing these responses that Cassandra Sharp demonstrates that a ‘hashtag jurisprudence’ can be constructed.

‘Urgently needed and meticulously orchestrated, Hashtag Jurisprudence drags a frequently resistant jurisprudence into the milieu of social media and the culture of tweeps, terrorists and Twitter. Continuing in the fine tradition of lex populi or people's law, Cassandra Sharp embarks upon the vital theoretical and empirical work of analyzing these viral relays and crowd sourced critiques of legal practices.’
– Peter Goodrich, Yeshiva University, US

‘Sharp’s study of the response to terror on Twitter is a brilliant exploration of the digital public square in the perpetual shadow of violence (from within law and without). How law’s imperatives and aspirations are shaped in the popular imagination will help to determine its future possibilities. Sharp is an intrepid guide on the way forward. Her grasp of the law and cultural studies movement is impeccable. She has given us a landmark study filled with new and provocative insights.’
– Richard K. Sherwin, New York Law School, US

‘Terror and social media have so far defined the twenty-first century. In this fabulous cross-disciplinary book, Cassandra Sharp focuses on how the intertwining of terror and social media has formed an emotive archive that prioritises legality. Within there is a witnessing of terror that immediately presents as affirming and critiquing existing legal forms. Sharp as an original contributor to cultural legal studies sees beyond the known problematics of platforms, to take seriously the representations of legality within the raw expressions by social media users in exceptional moments. Hashtag Jurisprudence highlights the gaps and disconnects between the formal institutional narratives of the law and the everyday jurisprudence that is immanent in the digital.’
– Kieran Tranter, Queensland University of Technology, Australia