Showing papers in "Journal of Communication Inquiry in 2015"
TL;DR: The theory of online disembodiment, which suggests sexual identity online may be incongruent with real-life self-presentation, is problematized by new dating technologies that may lead to meeting i...
Abstract: The theory of online disembodiment, which suggests sexual identity online may be incongruent with real-life self-presentation, is problematized by new dating technologies that may lead to meeting i...
37 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the "doubt your doubts" meme and antimemes and theorize religious memetics as a space for the reconnection of the everydayness of religious practice, which boils down meaningful moments of faith into facile, nonthreatening avenues for sharing religion.
Abstract: Recently leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormon) faith have called upon members to “sweep the earth” with positive religious messages through social media. This digital moment in Mormonism exemplifies the interrelation and concomitant tension between everyday lived religion, technology, and religious institutions. While studies on digital religion have emphasized the push of participatory culture into everyday lived religion, this research on religious memes contributes to an emergent vein of digital religion scholarship focused on institutional authority. In our analysis of the “doubt your doubts” meme and antimemes we theorize religious memetics as a space for the reconnection of the everydayness of religious practice, which boils down meaningful moments of faith into facile, nonthreatening avenues for sharing religion. While this is beneficial for institutions, the reflexive and metonymic function of religious memes ruptures routine, offering participants momentary pause...
25 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the post-capitalist characteristics of civil sphere theory and their implications for locating media in large-scale processes of social change, and provide a case study of how to use the civil sphere for social change.
Abstract: This essay critically examines the postcapitalist characteristics of civil sphere theory (CST) and their implications for locating media in large-scale processes of social change. Providing a case ...
23 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined how two publications with a common religious affiliation but different racial affiliations (indigenous/Black and immigrant/Arab) frame news events, and found that identity performance, even at the organizational level, is context sensitive.
Abstract: This study examines how two publications with a common religious affiliation—“Muslim/Islamic”—but different racial affiliations—“indigenous/Black” and “immigrant/Arab”—frame news events. It develops two interrelated ideas. First, identity is not simply an “individual level” but also a higher, “organizational level” of influence on news. Second, news organizations perform their identities in how they frame news. Comparative frame analysis reveals that identity performance, even at the organizational level, is context sensitive. The two publications, Muslim Journal and Islamic Horizons, use similar news frames when their shared religious identity is salient, but framing diverges in contexts where their differing racial identities become active. Racial identities also color how these publications construct and relate to “America.” Conceptualizing news organizations as reflexive actors with fluid identities and news frames as the contextual identity performance of these actors allows us to see how news media ...
14 citations
TL;DR: A number of right-wing organizations in the United States have produced and circulated a number of videos which exaggerate the threat Islamic militants pose to ordinary citizens in the West as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Rightwing organizations in the United States have produced and circulated a number of videos which exaggerate the threat Islamic militants pose to ordinary citizens in the West. These videos owe a ...
14 citations
TL;DR: The authors argues that Jeffrey Alexander's magnum opus, The Civil Sphere, presents a valuable but curiously narrow account of how political power works in American society, especially the power of...
Abstract: This essay argues that Jeffrey Alexander’s magnum opus, The Civil Sphere, presents a valuable but curiously narrow account of how political power works in American society, especially the power of ...
12 citations
TL;DR: The Afrosphere is a diverse field of social media marked by a willingness to engage issues of shared or collective concern for inhabitants of the "Black Atlantic" or "Black diaspora" as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The Afrosphere is a diverse field of social media marked by a willingness to engage issues of shared or collective concern for inhabitants of the “Black Atlantic” or the “Black diaspora.” By lookin...
11 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that civil sphere theory can enhance the study of power, particularly the role powerful forces play in shaping the cultural contests that animate democratic life and lay the foundation for political and social change.
Abstract: This essay argues that Jeffrey C. Alexander’s civil sphere theory provides a useful new tool for those who study mass communication and its role during times of political change. In a functioning democracy, Alexander maintains, the feelings of solidarity that emanate from a shared cultural legacy can shape political outcomes and foster social change. This essay responds to skeptics who claim Alexander’s theory minimizes the impact of raw power in politics and thus presents a Utopian view of civil society. It contends that civil sphere theory can enhance the study of power, particularly the role powerful forces play in shaping the cultural contests that animate democratic life and lay the foundation for political and social change.
10 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors document how textbooks and reference textbooks on film studies written by Western and diaspora authors either belittled Indian cinema as masala genre or glori...
Abstract: The present study primarily intends to document how textbooks and reference textbooks on film studies written by Western and diaspora authors either belittled Indian cinema as masala genre or glori...
9 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the politics of global connectivity in Alex Rivera's film Sleep Dealer (2008), focusing on this science fic\tion film's critical engagement with the problems and possibilities.
Abstract: This article explores the politics of global connectivity in Alex Rivera’s film Sleep Dealer (2008), focusing on this science fic\tion film’s critical engagement with the problems and possibilities...
9 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the ways in which lifestyle media during the 1980s expressed a longing for a particular form of social life that was passing as neoliberalism presented increasingly consumer-oriented policies.
Abstract: This article considers the ways in which lifestyle media during the 1980s expressed a longing for a particular form of social life that was passing as neoliberalism presented increasingly consumer-...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors find that the program Undicated Reality Television (UndicatedRealityTV) is a highly dramatic and episodic environment where individuals perform who they are within episodic and often highly dramatic contexts.
Abstract: Reality television has customarily been studied as an arena where individuals perform who they are within episodic and often highly dramatic contexts. This work, however, finds that the program Und...
TL;DR: This paper used discourse analysis to examine the arc of cable news media coverage of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque, a proposed Islamic community center in lower Manhattan that sparked widespread controversy, and found several consistent trends in terms of the sources present in cable coverage opposing the center, as well as a very narrow set of talking points that underline the presence of what other researchers have identified as an Islamophobic network of individuals and organizations present in American mass media discourse.
Abstract: This study uses discourse analysis to examine the arc of cable news media coverage of the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque”, a proposed Islamic community center in lower Manhattan that sparked widespread controversy. This article analyzes both the nature and duration of mainstream cable news coverage of the controversy and the major arguments put forth by those both supporting and opposing the center in the politically charged post-September 11 media environment. Google Trends data were employed to examine the duration of the controversy both in terms of broader media coverage and search volume for the term “Ground Zero Mosque” online. This study found several consistent trends in terms of the sources present in cable coverage opposing the center, as well as a very narrow set of talking points that underline the presence of what other researchers have identified as an Islamophobic network of individuals and organizations present in American mass media discourse.
TL;DR: This article examined the ideological implications of the video's crossover appeal and its celebrated reception on U.S. national television and found that the celebratory reception of “Gangnam Style” offer alternative discourses or reinforce ideological constructions of Asian masculinity.
Abstract: Through the media mania of Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” this paper examines the ideological implications of the video’s crossover appeal and its celebrated reception on U.S. national television. This paper analyzes whether the celebratory reception of “Gangnam Style” offer alternative discourses or reinforce ideological constructions of Asian masculinity. A critical decoding of the audiovisual text and Psy’s U.S. media appearances identifies the ideological implications that reflect the emasculation discourse that situates Asian masculinity as neo-minstrelsy. Psy’s television appearances indicate that his celebratory embrace is due in part because his image and physicality conform to racialized constructions in the larger body politic. This inquiry provides critical insight into how the popular embrace of audiovisual text reflects the emasculation discourse that defines Asian men.
TL;DR: The authors examined the brand development of supermodel cum media mogul Tyra Banks by investigating her positioning as a mother figure in two texts, America's Next Top Model and typeF, to facilitate women's postfeminist self-branding as fierce.
Abstract: This article examines the brand development of supermodel cum media mogul Tyra Banks by investigating her positioning as a mother figure in two texts—America’s Next Top Model and typeF.com—to facilitate women’s postfeminist self-branding as fierce. Grounded in the appropriation of her raced position and the ball culture of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community, Banks’ mother figure advocates becoming fierce as essential to women’s personal and professional success. Fierce signifies hegemonic femininity and postfeminist values, and, accordingly, women under Banks’ tutelage engage in immaterial/affective labor on their bodies and emotions to access a positive sense of self and career promise. In doing so, they support fierce as a postfeminist self-brand that provides value for Banks’ brand. This study details how motherhood has been drawn on for corporate benefit, encouraging emotional connections between women, texts, and brands that normalize postfeminist self-branding as a means of...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce civil sphere theory for communication and social movements and demonstrate its explanatory power through reference to a historical case study, and suggest how it can open new pathways of inquiry and understanding for those who study communication.
Abstract: This essay is an effort to introduce civil sphere theory to fellow communication scholars. The primary goals are to sketch its central concepts and theoretical framework, demonstrate its explanatory power through reference to a historical case study, and suggest how it can open new pathways of inquiry and understanding for those who study communication and social movements. The secondary goal is to persuade scholars of journalism studies that the concepts civil society and civil sphere have much to offer those who take seriously journalism’s role in democratic struggle.
TL;DR: The Marin Foundation has gained increasing attention as a Christian group attempting to reconcile with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) community as discussed by the authors, and the Marin Foundation is one of the earliest organizations to do so.
Abstract: In recent years, the Marin Foundation has gained increasing attention as a Christian group attempting to reconcile with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) community. As one means of...
TL;DR: Guttenberg later resigned from office after a German newspaper revealed that he had plagiarized his doctoral dissertation as mentioned in this paper, leaving international news headlines for weeks after the revelation. But Guttenberg's resignation was shortlived.
Abstract: Not long after a German newspaper revealed that Germany’s popular Defense Secretary Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg had plagiarized his dissertation, he resigned from office, leaving international news ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a comic book interpretation of the Battle of Thermopylae, based on the graphic novel 300, which they call the "Battle of the Last Frontier".
Abstract: Popular films continue to replace history courses as the source of truth with regard to important events or eras. 300, in its interpretation of the Battle of Thermopylae, based on the graphic novel...
TL;DR: The authors argue that Alexander's approach should be augmented by incorporating insights from journalism studies, particularly indexing and Bourdieu's analysis of the journalistic field, and by paying closer attention to the play of hegemony in the case studies Alexander provides to exemplify the proper working of the civil sphere.
Abstract: The article critiques Jeffery Alexander’s book The Civil Sphere. It argues that Alexander’s approach should be augmented by incorporating insights from journalism studies, particularly indexing and Bourdieu’s analysis of the journalistic field, and by paying closer attention to the play of hegemony in the case studies Alexander provides to exemplify the proper working of the civil sphere. It closes by suggesting that Habermasian approaches may provide more useful norms for media professionals and activists.