This study focuses on the Algorithmic Protectorate by examining a case study of Morocco’s digital identity and the agency performed on the Digital Stage.
It addresses the central research question of how postcolonial dynamics shape the visual representation of Morocco on Instagram.By combining digital media studies, critical internet studies, and postcolonial studies, this research creates a critical eye that moves beyond general platform analysis.
This research redefines Instagram as an Algorithmic Protectorate that seeks to fix identity through the Orientalist Script, while providing a Third Space for negotiating identity.
To explore this, I have utilized a Semiological Analysis and Reflexive Visual Ethnography to critically examine the Site of Production and the Site of the Image itself.
The study concludes that Instagram operates as a digital manifestation of Said’s stage meta- phor, in which Moroccan identity is fixed yet simultaneously serves as a platform for Digital Agency.
View the Thesis Draft as a PDF
Draft version. Final submission scheduled for summer 2026.
