Abstract
Based on work with three youth-led activist groups in Aotearoa New Zealand, we explore the hybrid relationship between online and offline activism. This hybridity serves as a 'third space' (Bhabha, 2004) that combines elements of collective and connective action. Our understanding of hybridity draws on and extends Bennett and Segerberg's (2012) theory of connective action and MacDonald's (2002) notion of 'fluidarity.' Building on their work, we interpret activist spaces as hybrid spaces where activist identities are constructed as both connective and collective. Hybrid activism contextualizes the ways corporeality remains central to the affective experience of many activist campaigns. The interacting affordances of each space generate possibilities for community organizing and community building that are qualitatively different than either on- or offline spaces alone. Communicative complexity Trere (2018) and activist self-narration are key elements of the hybridity that emerged in our study. In addition, the connective action properties of digital media were maximized when physical and digital campaigns were porous. Digital and material spaces are therefore co-constructing and complementary.