Showing papers in "Popular Communication in 2017"
TL;DR: This article explored how parents define the borders of their digital selves and justify what is their "story to tell" and found that bloggers grapple with profound ethical dilemmas, as representing their identities as parents inevitably makes public aspects of their children's lives, introducing risks that they are, paradoxically, responsible for safeguarding against.
Abstract: This article asks whether “sharenting” (sharing representations of one’s parenting or children online) is a form of digital self-representation. Drawing on interviews with 17 parent bloggers, we explore how parents define the borders of their digital selves and justify what is their “story to tell.” We find that bloggers grapple with profound ethical dilemmas, as representing their identities as parents inevitably makes public aspects of their children’s lives, introducing risks that they are, paradoxically, responsible for safeguarding against. Parents thus evaluate what to share by juggling multiple obligations—to themselves, their children in the present and imagined into the future, and to their physical and virtual communities. The digital practices of representing the relational self are impeded more than eased by the individualistic notion of identity instantiated by digital platforms, thereby intensifying the ambivalence of both parents and the wider society in judging emerging genres of b...
167 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors combine theories of the selfie as an aesthetic and technological practice of digital self-representation with a theatrical conception of spectatorship, inspired by Adam Smit.
Abstract: In this article, I combine theorizations of the selfie as an aesthetic and technological practice of digital self-representation with a theatrical conception of spectatorship, inspired by Adam Smit...
77 citations
TL;DR: In the wake of big data and affective capitalism, new styles of selfhood and self-presentation, forms of social status, and arbiters of authenticity are being authorized and propagated as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: What new styles of selfhood and self-presentation, forms of social status, and arbiters of “authenticity” are being authorized and propagated in the wake of big data and affective capitalism? How a...
38 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a collection of online cultural artifacts (including nonbinary selfies on Tumblr) and interviews with a small group of trans* social media storytellers are used to explore theoretical tensions between gender fluidity and identity fragmentation across multiple social media sites and practices.
Abstract: While selfies of beautiful cisgender women are declaimed by mainstream media as narcissistic and facile, some body-positive feminists and queer theorists argue that selfies can be empowering. They claim self-representation by traditionally stigmatized people can challenge normative presentations of beauty and gender. This article problematizes “empowerment” as a definitive and/or productive frame and argues instead for observation and analysis of “privilege” in situated practice. In this article I combine analysis of a collection of online cultural artifacts (including nonbinary selfies on Tumblr) and interviews with a small group of trans* social media storytellers to explore theoretical tensions between gender fluidity and identity fragmentation across multiple social media sites and practices. Gender-diverse digital self-representation encompasses both “consistent” androgyny, nonbinary, agender, and so on, and “emergent” presentations-in-flux. I assert that the ongoing iteration of self across ...
30 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that self-representation in digital communication should not be treated as synonymous with selfies, and that selfies themselves should not reductively equated with performances of embodiment.
Abstract: This article develops and troubles existing approaches to visual self-representation in social media, questioning the naturalized roles of faces and bodies in mediated self-representation. We argue that self-representation in digital communication should not be treated as synonymous with selfies, and that selfies themselves should not be reductively equated with performances of embodiment. We do this through discussing “not-selfies”: visual self-representation consisting of images that do not feature the likenesses of the people who share them, but instead show objects, animals, fictional characters, or other things, as in the practices of #EDC (“everyday carry”) and #GPOY (“gratuitous picture of yourself”) on platforms such as Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, and reddit. We present an account of self-representation as an emergent, recognizable, intertextual genre, and show that #EDC and #GPOY practices are best conceptualized as instances of self-representation.
25 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore a number of issues concerning the representation of Iranian popular music outside Iran, and specifically the somewhat romanticized discourses of resistance and freedom which have tended to characterise both journalistic and scholarly writings.
Abstract: This article explores a number of issues concerning the representation of Iranian popular music outside Iran, and specifically the somewhat romanticized discourses of ‘resistance’ and ‘freedom’ which have tended to characterise both journalistic and scholarly writings. The article discusses a number of examples, but focuses primarily on the case of the music video ‘Happy in Tehran’, which was posted on YouTube in 2014 and which challenged certain local cultural and legal boundaries on behaviour in public space. As a result, those responsible for the video were arrested, prompting an outcry, both within Iran and internationally; they were released soon after and eventually received suspended sentences. The article discusses the ways in which the ‘Happy in Tehran’ incident was reported in the media outside Iran and offers alternative readings of the video and its meanings. Ultimately, the article considers how such reductionist views feed into wider regimes of orientalist representation and asks whose agenda such fetishisation of resistance serves.
25 citations
TL;DR: The media play a major role in framing key political issues such as climate change, and the melting of the Arctic snow and ice has become a bellwether of global climate change through the mediations of mediators.
Abstract: Media play a major role in framing key political issues such as climate change, and the melting of the Arctic snow and ice has become a bellwether of global climate change through the mediations of ...
18 citations
TL;DR: The Brandalism project during COP21 as discussed by the authors replaced bus stop advertising with original artworks, which is a form of creative activism that addresses the advertising industry as a key battlefield over cultural meaning and environmental sustainability.
Abstract: This article explores creative activism for environmentalism through an examination of culture jamming. Specifically, it looks to the action of the Brandalism project during COP21. This was the replacement of bus stop advertising with original artworks. This form of creative activism is unique in that it addresses the advertising industry as a key battlefield over cultural meaning and environmental sustainability. Through its use of the logic of appropriation inherent in culture jamming, this case challenges critiques about the incorporation of culture jamming within consumer culture. This work theorizes the case through the new politics of consumption, political consumerism, and culture jamming. It argues for the logic of appropriation, before it introduces the case study and explores the visual narratives of environmentalism: corporate greed, inadequate politicians, consumer saturation, Earth in mourning, and public commitment to the environment. Finally, it evaluates the contribution of Brandalism as a form of creative activism for environmentalism.
13 citations
TL;DR: The article provides a case study of the Hacking Team, an international “cybersecurity” firm offering spyware and surveillance systems to government security agencies, which was itself hacked and “doxed” in 2015.
Abstract: This article examines the development of hacking and cybersecurity software packages as commodities, based on an international political economy of vendors and clients operating in the interstices of international law. Offensive hacking and defensive cybersecurity tools offer new means for surveillance of critics, journalists, and human rights workers, especially in corrupt or authoritarian political systems. The article provides a case study of the Hacking Team, an international “cybersecurity” firm offering spyware and surveillance systems to government security agencies, which was itself hacked and “doxed” in 2015. The leak of documents contributes new knowledge of an international political economy for software products, which exploits the digital rights of targets and which could further undermine general Internet security.
12 citations
TL;DR: Self-Re)presentation now as mentioned in this paper cannot ignore the political and social events that have overtaken us since the original call for papers in July 2015. The battles we are seeing in...
Abstract: A special issue called “Self-(Re)presentation Now” cannot ignore the political and social events that have overtaken us since the original call for papers in July 2015. The battles we are seeing in...
12 citations
TL;DR: The reaction video is an understudied area in YouTube and other online scholarship as discussed by the authors, despite its limited scholarly attention, it is an influential site of meaning making, particularly for global you...
Abstract: The reaction video is an understudied area in YouTube and other online scholarship. Despite its limited scholarly attention, it is an influential site of meaning making, particularly for global you...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors adopt a heterotopological approach to the spatial organization of the National September 11 Memorial and Memorial Museum and argue that although numerous organizational stakeholders, such as the families of 9/11 victims, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the New York Police Department, and the Port Authorities, had monolithic propositions about how to commemorate the attacks on the World Trade Center, it ended up transforming into a heterogeneous space marked by contestations, juxtapositions, and contradictions.
Abstract: This article adopts a heterotopological approach to the spatial organization of the National September 11 Memorial and Memorial Museum. We argue that although numerous organizational stakeholders, such as the families of 9/11 victims, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the New York Police Department, and the Port Authorities, had monolithic propositions about how to commemorate 9/11, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum ended up transforming into a heterotopic space marked by contestations, juxtapositions, and contradictions. Although many wanted to simply tell a unified tale about heroism and resilience, the social constructions of Ground Zero space have resisted monolithic historical accounts of remembrance despite the influential forces of utopian visions. This analysis contributes to the study of spatial and mnemonic representations by demonstrating the uses of heterotopology as a heuristic tool for unpacking polysemic and polyvalent spaces of commemoration that may otherwis...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the production, representation, consumption, and social regulation of the mother-daughter-man love triangle in three telenovelas: Ciudad Bendita, Dona Barbara, and La Mujer Perfecta.
Abstract: Telenovelas are serialized melodramatic love stories whose happy endings are postponed by intrigues and obstacles. The main source of these impediments is also the basic building block of every telenovela: the love triangle. Because they unsettle the mother–daughter relation, mother–daughter–man triangles can be risky. But they can be successful too. This study examines the production, representation, consumption, and social regulation of the mother–daughter–man love triangle in three telenovelas: Ciudad Bendita (2006, Venevision-Venezuela), Dona Barbara (2008, Telemundo-USA), and La Mujer Perfecta (2010, Venevision-Venezuela). Located under the umbrella of cultural studies, the study uses a multimethod approach that includes textual and ethnographic methods. The analysis underscores the writing and production challenges of this particular love triangle, considers the fit, or lack thereof, of the mother–daughter dyad with the virgin/whore dichotomy present in the majority of telenovelas, and flesh...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the ways in which the uncultural masks the cultural in ABC's Dr. Ken and identify and critique the ambiguous and nuanced positions of Asian Americans.
Abstract: In this essay, we interrogate the ways in which the uncultural masks the cultural in ABC’s Dr. Ken. We analyze Dr. Ken’s first season, through the conceptual lens of strategic whiteness, to identify and critique the ambiguous and nuanced positions of Asian Americans. By repeatedly demonstrating the simultaneous functions of Asian Americans both as almost Whites and as (nonthreatening) Others, Dr. Ken resecures invisible territories of whiteness as property. Our goal is to disrupt the uncultural assumptions about Dr. Ken as it strategically draws attention away from its reproduction of norms of whiteness at the expense of Asian Americans.
TL;DR: The pace and scope of change in the Islamic Republic of Iran in recent years have been remarkable as discussed by the authors, and these transformations are readily observable to those who have traveled to Iran frequently.
Abstract: The pace and scope of change in the Islamic Republic of Iran in recent years have been remarkable. These transformations are readily observable to those who have traveled to Iran frequently. Yet th...
TL;DR: This paper explored how Iranian musicians in the diaspora embrace the new and the familiar, the traditional and the popular, creating an original cultural hybrid, incorporating themes of personal and collective nostalgia, and explored the textual and musical analysis of singer-songwriter Mohsen Namjoo's readaptation of the familiar Mexican ranchera song “Cielito Lindo.
Abstract: Rather than resisting either new or old culture, Iranian musicians in the diaspora embrace both their new host environments and their native homeland, as they create a place between cultural assimilation and preservation, helping to shape new sounds of exile. This essay explores how Iranian musicians embrace the new and the familiar, the traditional and the popular, creating an original cultural hybrid. Questions of cultural identity and the politics of location and displacement are addressed using a theoretical cultural studies framework, incorporating themes of personal and collective nostalgia. This discussion is supplemented by documented narrative experiences from Iranian musicians and artists. Furthermore, the textual and musical analysis of singer-songwriter Mohsen Namjoo’s readaptation of the familiar Mexican ranchera song “Cielito Lindo” uncovers unique nuances and layers of meaning that not only shed light on one musician’s personal journey to exile, but also speak to a greater collectiv...
TL;DR: In this article, a femme woman of color employed critical autoethnography based on her participant observation within Chatroulette for a qualitative study on how online impressions through web cameras with strangers are formed in quick bursts of time.
Abstract: As a femme woman of color, I employ critical autoethnography based on my participant observation within Chatroulette for a qualitative study on how online impressions through web cameras with strangers are formed in quick bursts of time. Chatroulette’s anonymity adds interesting context for impression creation in an online environment that emphasizes ocularcentrism of the embodied self. This article adds to methodologies of self-care for the qualitative researcher by positioning the issue of self-care in the online field, where “regular” interactions based on race, gender, sexuality, and more may leave autoethnographers from marginalized communities especially vulnerable. This study complicates the conceptual boundaries of “audience,” “participation,” and “observation” for online autoethnographic research. This research contributes to impression formation theory by focusing on the importance of the body in immediate, one-time impression constructions with conversational partners online. Race, gend...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the agency of female musicians and vocal performers in the long history of women's struggles for self-expression and voicing their presence in public spaces and on the national stage.
Abstract: Contemporary female musicians and vocalists in Iran represent a challenging and inspiring musical trend as a part of a dynamic and reflexive artistic and cultural wave. This trend could be compared to a trend in the first half of the 20th century in Iran, which opened the first chapter in the history of women asserting their presence and their voice as female musicians in public spaces, exemplified in the work of Qamar al-Moluk Vaziri. This article analyzes these two trends in their social and cultural contexts and explores the efforts of postrevolution female vocalists to assert their presence in musical realms. Addressing these issues in the context of political, religious, and cultural constraints, the article examines the agency of female musicians and vocal performers in the long history of women’s struggles for self-expression and voicing their presence in public spaces and on the national stage.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on representations of mental illness on U.S. network television, particularly the "police procedural" Elementary, which is unique in emphasizing the detective's struggles with drug addiction and mental illness, as well as a long road of recovery.
Abstract: This article focuses on representations of mental illness on U.S. network television, particularly the “police procedural” Elementary. As a modern interpretation of the Sherlock Holmes character, Elementary is unique in emphasizing the detective’s struggles with drug addiction and mental illness, as well as a long road of recovery where intellectual labor is instrumental and “therapeutic” (rather than stressful and alienating). Despite its critical acclaim, Elementary’s progressive portrayals of symptoms of mental illness in Holmes are complicated by the series’s stereotypical depiction of villains that are “mad men,” “lunatics,” and “psychopaths” driven by financial gain and individual greed. The “acceptability” of mental illness in the series is measured by a character’s compliance with the dominant social order. While Elementary provides some positive messages about mental illness, its socioeconomic commentaries individualize “madness,” violence, and the pitfalls of late capitalism to support a...
TL;DR: The term "classical" is often applied to the genre of Iranian music known as musiqi-e sonnati (traditional music), normally identified by a form of music making involving extensive extemporization based on a structural framework called the radif, historically performed at length in intimate settings among initiated individuals as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The term “classical” is often applied to the genre of Iranian music known as musiqi-e sonnati (traditional music), normally identified by a form of music making involving extensive extemporization based on a structural framework called the radif, historically performed at length in intimate settings among initiated individuals Today, classically trained musicians working the public concert circuit in Iran face a somewhat different picture of musical practice Concert halls are typically much larger, audiences much wider, and performances much shorter Many musicians tend to categorize themselves as classical, though they do not always perform according to the traditional parameters of the sonnati genre This raises questions about new developments in classical music that fall just outside radif-based performance, and about the perceived conceptual relationship between sonnati and new-classical performance as the genre evolves This article explores some of these dynamics through reflections among
TL;DR: The authors traces the transformation of an Iranian nationalist poem by Simin Behbahani entitled "I Will Rebuild You, Homeland" (1981) into an expatriate national anthem, and the subsequent incorporation into protests and political speeches by individuals and groups in and outside of Iran.
Abstract: This article traces the transformation of an Iranian nationalist poem by Simin Behbahani entitled “I Will Rebuild You, Homeland” (1981) into an expatriate national anthem, and the poem-song’s subsequent incorporation into protests and political speeches by individuals and groups in and outside of Iran. Employing musical and textual analysis, interviews, and a transnational perspective on cultural circulation and reception, I show how exile pop singer Dariush Eghbali’s adaptation of the original poem mobilized the text and opened it to audience participation. The article argues that the poem and its musical–textual permutations exemplify contemporary Iranian practices of national identification in which conflicting parties attempt to motivate “the Iranian people” to political ends. As actors from around the world and across the political spectrum repeatedly turn to nationalist poetry, song, anthem, and political speech, we observe how mass-mediated popular culture reveals ongoing recourse to nation...