Convergence, Ahead of Print.
The surveillant capacities of smart phones have generated an array of safety apps targeting cis female users. Current feminist scholarship studies these apps from a variety of disciplinary perspectives that stress their detractors, namely, that they are largely ineffective and that they instead burden the user with the labor of continuous assessment of oneself and one’s surroundings. This article acknowledges the apps’ numerous failings while at the same time turning attention to the surveilled, responsible, projected user they reproduce in order to tease out some of the internal contradictions and nuances of this figure and its place in digital culture. The study samples a number of safety apps that focus on gender violence in public spaces and finds that the apps solicit a form of gendered labor which asks largely cis women users to work towards ‘feelings’ of safety.
Precarious work and precarious urban spaces: Divergent experiences of pandemic creativity
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ahead of Print.
How does the precarity of creative work iterate with the precarity of creative spaces? In answer, we examine Covid-19 pandemic experiences of workers across diverse creative sectors in Sydney, Australia, drawing upon qualitative mapping research. Our findings highlight divergent experiences of precarity before and during the pandemic: many suffered, others adapted, some even thrived, depending upon the nature of their work, access to socialisation and networking opportunities, plus whether livelihood precariousness was worsened and overlaid with additional geographic factors, including venue loss, tenure vulnerability, housing insecurity, and access to production spaces. Using conceptual insights from labour and feminist geography, we argue that for the creative sectors to flourish and support diverse, well-remunerated and satisfying work, there must also be discussions of the post-pandemic geography of creative work. Space and social relations within and beyond the work sphere are co-constitutive of precarity.
How does the precarity of creative work iterate with the precarity of creative spaces? In answer, we examine Covid-19 pandemic experiences of workers across diverse creative sectors in Sydney, Australia, drawing upon qualitative mapping research. Our findings highlight divergent experiences of precarity before and during the pandemic: many suffered, others adapted, some even thrived, depending upon the nature of their work, access to socialisation and networking opportunities, plus whether livelihood precariousness was worsened and overlaid with additional geographic factors, including venue loss, tenure vulnerability, housing insecurity, and access to production spaces. Using conceptual insights from labour and feminist geography, we argue that for the creative sectors to flourish and support diverse, well-remunerated and satisfying work, there must also be discussions of the post-pandemic geography of creative work. Space and social relations within and beyond the work sphere are co-constitutive of precarity.
Gender Portrayals and Perceptions in the New Age Society of India
Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Volume 31, Issue 1, Page 102-121, February 2024.
There has recently been a shift in the portrayal of women in Indian media, from a domestic background and docile image to a more professional and empowered representation. This study explores whether such changed portrayals in the media are also positively perceived and if there is an impact on the status of women in the social reality of India. The study examined gender perceptions through focus group discussions with participants from Gen X and Gen Z cohorts. Gen Z, conditioned in an age of technology and liberalisation, was expected to have different gender perceptions than Gen X, conditioned in a pre-liberalised traditional India. The discussions revealed the participants’ complexities, dilemmas and compromises regarding gender stereotypes and the modern versus traditional portrayal of women in Indian media. While Gen X participants were bound to old gender structures and equations, the iconoclastic Gen Z participants appeared to be onsetting a change in gender perceptions of India.
There has recently been a shift in the portrayal of women in Indian media, from a domestic background and docile image to a more professional and empowered representation. This study explores whether such changed portrayals in the media are also positively perceived and if there is an impact on the status of women in the social reality of India. The study examined gender perceptions through focus group discussions with participants from Gen X and Gen Z cohorts. Gen Z, conditioned in an age of technology and liberalisation, was expected to have different gender perceptions than Gen X, conditioned in a pre-liberalised traditional India. The discussions revealed the participants’ complexities, dilemmas and compromises regarding gender stereotypes and the modern versus traditional portrayal of women in Indian media. While Gen X participants were bound to old gender structures and equations, the iconoclastic Gen Z participants appeared to be onsetting a change in gender perceptions of India.
The assemblages of flagging and de-platforming against marginalised content creators
Convergence, Ahead of Print.
This study examines how de-platforming and flagging assemble to replicate offline inequalities, making content creators at the margins vulnerable to both online abuse and censorship on Instagram and TikTok. Highlighting gaps in online harms literature surrounding the misuse of this functionality, this paper frames misused or malicious flagging as online abuse through interviews with users who believed they were de-platformed this way, showcasing this practice’s emotional and financial impact on targets and creating a framework to identify it through users’ gossip.
This study examines how de-platforming and flagging assemble to replicate offline inequalities, making content creators at the margins vulnerable to both online abuse and censorship on Instagram and TikTok. Highlighting gaps in online harms literature surrounding the misuse of this functionality, this paper frames misused or malicious flagging as online abuse through interviews with users who believed they were de-platformed this way, showcasing this practice’s emotional and financial impact on targets and creating a framework to identify it through users’ gossip.
Introduction
Convergence, Volume 29, Issue 6, Page 1417-1421, December 2023.
Expressions of the self as articulated in and through digital media lend themselves to how we might see self-making practices captured, recirculated, monetized, maneuvered and governed. This special section of Convergence explores the proliferation of digital expressions of the self on social media. It explores how digital-audio-visual practices that have become ubiquitous in recent decades are at once shaped by, reproductive of, and a disruption to mass mediated, normative figures of personhood.
Expressions of the self as articulated in and through digital media lend themselves to how we might see self-making practices captured, recirculated, monetized, maneuvered and governed. This special section of Convergence explores the proliferation of digital expressions of the self on social media. It explores how digital-audio-visual practices that have become ubiquitous in recent decades are at once shaped by, reproductive of, and a disruption to mass mediated, normative figures of personhood.
‘Do I pray when listening to a recorded prayer?’: Approval and critique of digital practices in the Russian Orthodox Church
Convergence, Ahead of Print.
Within some religious collectivities, the use of digital media for rituals, gaining religious knowledge and community gatherings may be seen as a challenge to religious identity, thus provoking different attitudes. Drawing on practice theory of Schatzki, we analyse different attitudes to digital practices expressed by members of the Russian Orthodox Church as shaped by their perception of the affordances of digital media and practice normativity. Developing previous studies, we demonstrate that the normative assessment of digital practices becomes significant mainly for developing critical arguments. Approval of digital practices does not depend solely on religious norms, but also on users’ experience of leveraging digital media affordances. We show that acceptance and critique are not mutually exclusive, as both types of argument are intertwined.
Within some religious collectivities, the use of digital media for rituals, gaining religious knowledge and community gatherings may be seen as a challenge to religious identity, thus provoking different attitudes. Drawing on practice theory of Schatzki, we analyse different attitudes to digital practices expressed by members of the Russian Orthodox Church as shaped by their perception of the affordances of digital media and practice normativity. Developing previous studies, we demonstrate that the normative assessment of digital practices becomes significant mainly for developing critical arguments. Approval of digital practices does not depend solely on religious norms, but also on users’ experience of leveraging digital media affordances. We show that acceptance and critique are not mutually exclusive, as both types of argument are intertwined.
Multimodal online dissident culture in Instagram: A critique of the Turkish economy
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ahead of Print.
Ever-present mass surveillance has blocked the flourishing of a traditional dissident culture in Turkey. Focusing on popular ‘just for fun’ Instagram accounts during the lira's freefall that began in the autumn of 2021, this study seeks to identify the creative strategies for digital social resistance embedded in multimodal content sharing of posts, which are composed of visuals, text, and sound. For this, we employed a multimodal-type analysis of Instagram posts regarding Turkey's economic crisis, followed by an interpretative content analysis aiming to (1) identify, categorize, and compile a typology of the main countersurveillance strategies inherent in multimodal posts, such as memes, edited videos, and animations, Photoshop-crafted still images, and (2) explore the contextual traits of the connected dissident culture. We discuss how these multimodal-type posts support connected dissident group formation while maintaining confidentiality while criticizing governmental conduct of economic policy making in Turkey.
Ever-present mass surveillance has blocked the flourishing of a traditional dissident culture in Turkey. Focusing on popular ‘just for fun’ Instagram accounts during the lira's freefall that began in the autumn of 2021, this study seeks to identify the creative strategies for digital social resistance embedded in multimodal content sharing of posts, which are composed of visuals, text, and sound. For this, we employed a multimodal-type analysis of Instagram posts regarding Turkey's economic crisis, followed by an interpretative content analysis aiming to (1) identify, categorize, and compile a typology of the main countersurveillance strategies inherent in multimodal posts, such as memes, edited videos, and animations, Photoshop-crafted still images, and (2) explore the contextual traits of the connected dissident culture. We discuss how these multimodal-type posts support connected dissident group formation while maintaining confidentiality while criticizing governmental conduct of economic policy making in Turkey.
Trans*(gressive) Failures: Cis-heteronormative Gaze in OTT Media
Journal of Creative Communications, Ahead of Print.
This study offers a critical textual analysis of trans* representation in two popular Hindi web series Sacred Games (Luegenbiehl & Motwane (Executive Producers), 2018–2019, Sacred Games [TV series]) and Paatal Lok (Sharma et al. (Executive Producers), 2020–Present, Paatal Lok [TV series]). We probe how trans* representations function to maintain normative agendas in a heteropatriarchal nation-state. Further, we examine their potential to reify dominant stereotypes in popular media. Our analysis reveals discourses surrounding hegemonic heterosexuality (Yep, 2003, Journal of Homosexuality, 45(2–4), 11–59), transnormativisation (Puar, 2015, Social Text, 33(3 (124)), 45–73) and homohindunationalism (Upadhyay, 2020, Interventions, 22(4), 464–480) based on two trans* characters—Kukkoo and Cheeni. We argue that the characters are conceptualised through a cis-heteropatriarchal imagination in a right-wing nation-state achieved through gendered and racialised othering. We uncover several mediated failures. First, how persistent male gaze functions to centre cis-heteronormative tropes that marginalise trans*ness and the trans* characters. Second, the dual pressures of Puar’s theorisation of ‘passing’ and ‘piecing’ create normativised trans* bodies that are unable to break out of the gender binary. Lastly, we argue that the Hindu-nationalist state works to co-opt and nullify progressive portrayals of trans* characters through its legal and biopolitical machinery.
This study offers a critical textual analysis of trans* representation in two popular Hindi web series Sacred Games (Luegenbiehl & Motwane (Executive Producers), 2018–2019, Sacred Games [TV series]) and Paatal Lok (Sharma et al. (Executive Producers), 2020–Present, Paatal Lok [TV series]). We probe how trans* representations function to maintain normative agendas in a heteropatriarchal nation-state. Further, we examine their potential to reify dominant stereotypes in popular media. Our analysis reveals discourses surrounding hegemonic heterosexuality (Yep, 2003, Journal of Homosexuality, 45(2–4), 11–59), transnormativisation (Puar, 2015, Social Text, 33(3 (124)), 45–73) and homohindunationalism (Upadhyay, 2020, Interventions, 22(4), 464–480) based on two trans* characters—Kukkoo and Cheeni. We argue that the characters are conceptualised through a cis-heteropatriarchal imagination in a right-wing nation-state achieved through gendered and racialised othering. We uncover several mediated failures. First, how persistent male gaze functions to centre cis-heteronormative tropes that marginalise trans*ness and the trans* characters. Second, the dual pressures of Puar’s theorisation of ‘passing’ and ‘piecing’ create normativised trans* bodies that are unable to break out of the gender binary. Lastly, we argue that the Hindu-nationalist state works to co-opt and nullify progressive portrayals of trans* characters through its legal and biopolitical machinery.
Guest Editorial: Critical and Creative Practices of Global Citizenship Education in the Digital Age of Information and Communication Technologies
Journal of Creative Communications, Volume 19, Issue 1, Page 7-12, March 2024.
Much has been written about the affordances and limitations of new and globalised learning technologies for educating democratic communities. However, the connection between global citizenship education (GCE) and information and communication technologies (ICTs) remains relatively underexplored, especially concerning their impact on promoting critical consciousness and social justice. This lack of exploration creates a knowledge gap, as we currently fall short of a comprehensive understanding of how educators worldwide utilise ICTs to foster GCE critically and ethically, and more broadly contribute to the common good—considered a pivotal element of political and social morality. This special issue examines how educators are effectively integrating GCE into their classroom practices in the digital age.
Much has been written about the affordances and limitations of new and globalised learning technologies for educating democratic communities. However, the connection between global citizenship education (GCE) and information and communication technologies (ICTs) remains relatively underexplored, especially concerning their impact on promoting critical consciousness and social justice. This lack of exploration creates a knowledge gap, as we currently fall short of a comprehensive understanding of how educators worldwide utilise ICTs to foster GCE critically and ethically, and more broadly contribute to the common good—considered a pivotal element of political and social morality. This special issue examines how educators are effectively integrating GCE into their classroom practices in the digital age.
Education Beyond Techno-global Rationality: Transnational Learning, Communicative Agency and the Neo-colonial Ethic
Journal of Creative Communications, Volume 19, Issue 1, Page 59-73, March 2024.
The marriage of twenty-first-century horizons of technology and the global ideal constitutes techno-global rationality as it reflects contemporary impulses, frames and teleologies. Fast-paced automation, the importance of cosmopolitanism and the colonial legacy have come to dominate educational discourse and drive calls for streamlined educative practice. Although such efficiency models empower a transactional/linear mode of teaching and learning, they do little to privilege integrative voices, deliberation and intersubjective care found in global citizenship education (GCE) definitions. We argue such rationality has exacerbated a neo-colonial ethic that promulgates economic, political and cultural pressure to control and narrow otherwise diverse learning opportunities. Drawing from recent research into technology and GCE in two International Baccalaureate international schools, we note the importance of communicative outreach and agency in diversity. We also highlight the distorting effects of hyper-rationalised neo-colonial interpretations of global agency. This article will interest those seeking to develop global educational policy and practice along with revitalising interpretations of technology integration.
The marriage of twenty-first-century horizons of technology and the global ideal constitutes techno-global rationality as it reflects contemporary impulses, frames and teleologies. Fast-paced automation, the importance of cosmopolitanism and the colonial legacy have come to dominate educational discourse and drive calls for streamlined educative practice. Although such efficiency models empower a transactional/linear mode of teaching and learning, they do little to privilege integrative voices, deliberation and intersubjective care found in global citizenship education (GCE) definitions. We argue such rationality has exacerbated a neo-colonial ethic that promulgates economic, political and cultural pressure to control and narrow otherwise diverse learning opportunities. Drawing from recent research into technology and GCE in two International Baccalaureate international schools, we note the importance of communicative outreach and agency in diversity. We also highlight the distorting effects of hyper-rationalised neo-colonial interpretations of global agency. This article will interest those seeking to develop global educational policy and practice along with revitalising interpretations of technology integration.