The Edge of Isolation

Just another lonely city boy with opinions - a compilation of selected academic work from my third and honours year as well as feature articles I have written

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Published Article on Queeriosity Magazine

Here’s a link to an article I wrote for Queeriosity Magazine titled Awaken on their fourth issue.

https://www.queeriosity.co.za/

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#KillYourAnger:  The Price of Self-Defense in the Queer Community

The year is 2014. Gyre and I were both fresh out of high school and on the crux of finding ourselves and exploring our sexuality. Until that year, both of us had only experienced the surface of the perils that come with being queer men of colour. On one particular night, perhaps the most defining moment of our vulnerability at that moment, Gyre and I were in a jovial mood, ready to take the dance floor by storm. However, I had to pick up my ID at my res before we could leave. As such, I went into my res to get my things while Gyre waited outside for me. Not even ten minutes later and I find Gyre in a physical altercation with one of the residents, surrounded by men who were just barely trying to stop the fight. As a fighter, however, Gyre was difficult to pull from the fight. Once the fight finally died down, Gyre’s adversary claimed the fight was because he looked like a threat to the res. However, as an openly queer man, we knew the truth and we both were heavily shaken by it. That night aggression was met with aggression. It also revealed a side of Gyre I had only seen in glimpses of. After that night I knew he was not one to be messed with and that he showcased a fire in him that was in and of itself empowering. Yes, he is queer. No, he wont be antagonized by a heteronormative society because of it.

 It is this energy that has characterized most of (if not all) of Gyre’s budding career thus far. In his debut project songs like Eat My Ass, Slay and Sleep, S.O.S. and G2G display a rapper who isn’t afraid of to express the type of aggression and braggadocio usually reserved for his heterosexual male counterparts. His latest effort Back Row, a collaboration with frequent collaborator J-Word Audio, is no exception but takes a decidedly different approach. On Eat My Ass, he aggressively asserts the validity of his identity as an openly queer male against a society that largely denies him of the type of privilege that many take for granted – particularly masculinity and the connotations that come with it (“why you fronting like you never eat it?”). On Back Row, he takes this to the nth degree, openly berating masculinity and everything it tells him he should be as a fem queer man. What is different, here, is his approach. On the single Gyre proclaims his aggression in a tone that veers on cold yet decidedly calm. Here, we see the rapper confident enough in himself to not need to scream in order to express his anger. Instead, we see someone who has redefined his own tropes as a queer man as well as the redefinition of what masculinity is meant to produce in a queer body. “I’m a boss bitch, fuck bro code,” he calmly asserts. Regardless of what the world tells him he should be, Gyre constantly finds himself transgressing these norms in a type of braggadocio that is impressive to watch. He is angry and he has every right to be.

 However, there seems to be something changing for the rapper. In a conversation we have whilst drinking some cheap boxed wine, he tells me about his aggression and the price of self-defence that we as queer people face on the daily – especially if we aren’t the idealized middle-class white gay man. Here, he tells me that he has been angry for a long time and for a long time it was that anger that fuelled his career. This anger, he tells me, stems from the long history of both covert and overt forms of queerphobia we have to experience on a daily. From society to even our own family and friends, queer people have to constantly fight and defend themselves for their existence to be validated and for the right to express themselves (particularly their aggression). The queer community is angry, and who could blame us? Yet many of us are forced to supress it in order to survive because there is a price for it. “Why should there be a price? Why should we constantly need to defend ourselves?” he tells me, visibly defeated by the weight of his expression.

 And he has a point. Throughout the queer existence, the queer experience has been marked by a consistent need for self-defence – a fight fuelled by an ever-growing anger. Just look at the instances corrective rape (the rape of lesbian women done in order to convert themselves to heterosexuality) that plague South Africa. As one of the rape capitals of the world, it has been reported that there were an average of 114 recorded rapes per day in 2018/19 (citation). Because there are no distinctions in the types of rape in the data, it cannot be revealed how many are from corrective rape. However, in 2011 a report by charity group Luleki Sizwe estimate that around 10 lesbian women are raped per week in Cape Town alone. (citation) Years later, the statistics on violence against lesbian woman does not look promising as Other Foundation reports that around 450 000 South Africans admit to have harmed women who dressed as men and gender-nonconforming people in the year of 2016 (citation). Clearly we have a crisis on our hands. In townships around the country where patriarchy is high, lesbian women are fighting for their lives and their right to exist everyday. However, their plights seem to be falling on deaf ears. Even with a stunning Constitution, the state and society at large has not done nearly enough to protect these lives and fulfil their promises of equal rights to all – regardless of their identities. We are on our own here, kids.

 Sadly, this need to constantly fight for our existence and validation is unfortunately not restricted towards our plight against queer emancipation from cis-het antagonization. For queer people of colour, particularly black queer people, the need to constantly defend their validation and their strife for inclusion is rampant even in our own community. A perfect example in the disjointedness between middle class white gays and the broader black queer community is the 2012 Johannesburg Pride Parade – at that point, the largest Pride event in Africa. During the march through sunny suburbia, the march was temporarily halted by activist group 1in 9 who staged a “die-in” in order to commemorate the lives of twenty-five black lesbian women who were killed or raped over the past few years. Unfortunately their attempt at a moment of silence was met with hostility as marchers demanded they move and not disrupt their march (i.e.: their right to have fun). Over the years it has become quite clear that the Johannesburg Pride Parade has fully estranged its political roots. Instead, it has become an event solely based on celebration and commercialization. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being proud of your queer identity, but when your celebration impedes those who cannot as yet celebrate your neo-liberal rights, then this becomes a problem. Since divorcing any sort of politics from its parade, the Johannesburg Pride Parade has become a cesspool filled with exclusion and marginalization that validates a particular and palatable version of queerness whilst simultaneously ostracizing those who don’t.

 All of this is utterly exhausting. Just last year, one of the founders of the Lesbian and Gay Pride March, Beverly Ditsie, expressed her despondency for the Johannesburg Pride Parade in an open “love letter” to her queer family. Posted on all her social media accounts, Ditsie commented on Pride’s long history from politics to party, calling the original march “not just an event, it was movement, a philosophy born out of an understanding of all our intersectional struggle.”  Clearly, Pride is a mere shadow of the revolutionary potential it was meant to be. To her, Pride could have been just as much of a celebration as it could have been a political stance, calling the current Pride Parade “an entirely different, de-politicised, elitist concept born of the ignorance and lack of care for other less privileged members of this so-called community.” As a crucial member of the queer struggle in South Africa, it is eye-opening that even she is tired of being sad and angry for the past twenty years – and rightfully so. Instead, she decided to celebrate.

 Gyre echoes Ditsie’s sentiments, it seems. As our conversation progresses he admits that he no longer sees himself as a victim. Instead he is in a place where he is tired of fighting. He is tired of constantly needing to defend himself against a society that refuses to change. Looking forward, Gyre fully intends to kill his anger and move away from his resistance being the means of his existence – something that he fully intends to pour into his art. If there is anything to take from this is probably knowing that you are not alone. You have the right to be angry and you also have a right to be tired. Just like Gyre, it is time that that we finally have the opportunity to express ourselves and unapologetically assert who we are and who want to be as people and as a community. The world is messed up, but we don’t have to be.

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Black Twitter and the Rise of the Contemporary Black Panther

In the information age it is becoming increasingly easier to produce alternative media. With advances in technology and the induction of new media (such as social media) anyone with a secure internet connection can become both audience and producer This is particularly important because with advances in global capitalism and neoliberalism, mainstream media’s role as gatekeepers and watchdogs of society are diminishing for the sake of maximising profit. It is now becoming increasingly imperative that alternative forms of media are produced to provide counter-hegemonic views and information to those of mainstream media that not only critiques mainstream media, but also actively advocates for social change. Enter Black Twitter: a subculture on Twitter comprising of predominantly African American youth that is particularly interesting not only for its entertainment value but also for its incredible online social advocacy. Using Black Twitter as a medium, this essay will outline the concepts behind alternative media and how it is used in the contemporary world to advocate for social change.

The idea of alternative media grew out from a rebuttal towards mainstream media. According to Bailey, Cammaerts & Carpentier (2008,6), mainstream and alternative media exist in an antagonistic relationship where each entity offering different but similar things. Atton (2002, 10) then goes on to argue within mainstream media in the age of neoliberalism, mainstream media consists of a group of elites who go onto controlling the narratives and information disseminated by mass media. In other words, it is the elite who controls what we read, see and hear in mainstream media outlets with their voices and ideologies being forefront of mass media. This, according to him, systematically marginalizes and disempowers all those occupying outside of the interests of the elite, which he argues is a key reason for the emergence of alternative media (Atton, C., 2002: 10). To put it simply, alternative media consists on media that represents the counter-view to that of mainstream media with the aim of empowering the disempowered and allowing for the marginalized’s voices and stories to be heard (Waltz, M., 2005: 2). Furthermore, alternative media seeks to cater for the needs of its audience through not only representation, but often by including them in the production process (Waltz, M., 2002: 4). This process is as counter to mainstream media, because unlike mainstream media, alternative media does not seek to sell its audience to advertisers for profit and can be represented as anti-capitalistic (Waltz, M., 2008: 8).

Alternative media is often seen as the foreground where news that does not appear in mainstream media for whatever reason. More importantly it gives a voice to those that mainstream media silences where what is produced is not only for those citizens but also by those citizens that “enables ‘ordinary people’ to produce their own work, independent from professional journalists and editors” (Atton, C., 2002). At heart, alternative media is important because they are free from any political, social or economic forces who impose and censor media (an action that has a considerable impact on the ‘new’ produced by mainstream media) (Atton, C., 2002: 17). It provides an outlet for the dissemination of information relevant to those who partake in it and in doing so reinvents the notion of (mainstream) media as a watchdog challenging the hegemony imposed by these forces in the production of mainstream news (Atton, C., 2002: 19, 20).

However, these generalized concepts of alternative media can be argued as rather reductionist seeing that alternative media is such a loose concept and can be interpreted in multiple ways. Firstly, there is the approach that’s geared towards the concept of the alternative versus the mainstream. Much like as what was discussed before, alternative media in this sense is theorized as being a direct opposition to mainstream media. They report what the mainstream do not, cover what the mainstream does not, represent what the mainstream does not and is often seen as “alternative vision to hegemonic policies, priorities and perspective” (Bailey, O.G., Cammaerts, B., Carpentier, N., 2008: 15). The way this hegemony is imposed by mainstream media is because they control the dominative narrative and have the power to shape and alter the way in which information is disseminated and because their role as gatekeepers, they have ability to dictate what is newsworthy and what is not (Bailey, O.G., Cammaerts, B., Carpentier, N., 2008: 16). This is a powerful tool because it creates a set of ideologies that has the power to construct their own ‘realities’ which is controlled by a certain number of people in the interest of profit, which inherently marginalizes all who do not count as the main social actors (Bailey, O.G., Cammaerts, B., Carpentier, N., 2008: 16). According to this perspective, this is why alternative media is so important and can be seen as counter-hegemony toward mainstream media. Lastly, the other way in which alternative media can be defined is that of a tool for serving the community. Here, alternative media loosely takes on a similar role of that of participatory media where the community actively participates in the production of media as a collective entity that share similar interests, ideas and issues (Bailey, O.G., Cammaerts, B., Carpentier, N., 2008: 7,8). The production of media here consists of a two-way form of communication where a dialectical relationship between the audience and the producer, with the interactivity between them make the distinction of who are the producers and who are the audience become extremely blurred (Bailey, O.G., Cammaerts, B., Carpentier, N., 2008: 11). This is important because, much like the previous concept, this poses as a challenge towards the ideological hegemony imposed by mainstream media sources as it allows ordinary citizens the opportunity to join in on the dialogues, debates and deliberations which directly or indirectly pertain to them (Bailey, O.G., Cammaerts, B., Carpentier, N., 2008: 11). Alternative media through this sense becomes a medium of expression by the community which empowers the community by creating a space where alternative forms information, ideas and entertainment can be disseminated across the community outside of the vails and constrictions of mainstream media.

No other cause expresses these two forms of conceptualising alternative media such as Black Twitter. Though Black Twitter in the general sense allows for black people to enter a space and create a virtual community that discusses and engages in a whole range of topics, it is its form of activism that truly make it stand out. As an example, Black Twitter has created movements such as #BlackLivesMatter (a retaliation towards race-centred police brutality), #BlackoutDay (a celebration of black people of all shapes and sizes), #OscarsSoWhite (a retaliation to there being no actors of colour in the four major categories at 2017’s Oscar ceremony), and, more locally, #FeesMustFall (the fight for free education) and #MenAreTrash (a retaliation against systematic patriarchy). Born out of Twitter, these movements have resulted in various degrees of success but what is important to acknowledge here is that Black Twitter, through the medium of Twitter allows for an alternative space in which intersectional issues and causes affecting black people are discussed, critiqued and disseminated (Worthman, J., 2016). The conversation here is begun by the black community and caters for issues for the black community, which is a key aspect of alternative media which is garnered to serving a community and is extremely important because many of these issues are not discussed, misinterpreted or altered by mainstream media (Worthman, J., 2016). Is this not much like the Black Panther movement of the 1960s and 1970s? This contemporary form of ‘blacktivism’ has taken to online media platforms to not only inform but also to actively advocate for social change (Gaiter, C., 2015). This is done in the interests of the black community free from hegemonic constraints of neoliberalism that mainstream media faces.

Though it could be argued that online activism has a danger of becoming ‘slacktivism,’ these conversations based on an alternative narrative has resulted in Black Twitter slowly permeating throughout society. An example being in #OscarsSoWhite becoming international news resulting in black actors such as Jada Pinkett Smith actively boycotting the ceremony (Worthman, J., 2016). It could even be argued because of the expansion of Black Twitter, and social causes it creates has resulted in the representation and narratives centring around black people are beginning to change (with international sensations Black Panther, Lemonade and Girls Trip proving that black representation have just a much potential to become hits as their white counterparts). Most importantly though, this alternative landscape has created a space for the black community to express themselves and see themselves represented in ways mainstream media has yet to accomplish, where they are celebrated in these space instead of being mocked or villainized as so often does by mainstream media, one of the key characteristics of the Black Panther Movement (Worthman, J., 2016).

Whether it’s Beyoncé dressed in Black Panther regalia during her Superbowl performance, or Lupita Nyong’o breaking barriers in Black Panther, it is becoming clear that the contemporary Black Panther is on the rise, driven mostly by the alternative landscape that Twitter has provided for the black community and its causes. Overall alternative media has become a defining feature in the study of media, particularly the contemporary landscape where it has become increasingly easier to engage with alternative media.

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Review of Burning Rebellion

Burning Rebellion is a different kind of play. In the play we see a group of four actors (Lerato Sefoloshe, Sanelisiwe Yekani, Mlindeli Zondi and Jaques de Silva) acting out a protest poem. The protest poem has said to be born out of a world gone awry. The world is changing fast and one of the ways in which is changing is the climate. Over the course of over a century, humans have physically changed Earth’s climate to disastrous effect. Since humans have walked the earth here have never been as many natural disasters, there has never been this much climate and ecological destruction and the world has never been this hot. Almost singlehandedly we are irreversibly changing Earth by ourselves – something that seems to only be accelerating as time goes by. If we don’t change now, we could very well be heading to the next great mass extinction on Earth. This ever changing planet is perhaps going to impact the youth much more than it will the older generations. As the youth we have not caused this impending ecological disaster and nor have we asked from – yet we will be facing the brunt of the reckless irresponsibility of the generations before us and, understandably, we are angry.

This lies at the heart of the play. In the play all of the actors are young millennials acting out a piece of poetry that not only acts out as a rebellious rally cry to the youth of today but also plea for people in positions of power and the chief causers for this disaster to implement change that will help save the planet – or at the very least stop killing the planet more than they already are. This comes at a time when the world has never known more about the impending disaster than they do now. All over the globe there have been a rise in climate protests by people who are demanding radical change from a group of powerful people who know there’s a disaster coming but are repeatedly turning a blind eye to it (here’s looking at you, Donald Trump). And at the centre of these strikes are the youth. Though we have not been the root cause of many of the reckless human behaviour against the environment, it is unfortunately us who have to face the consequences of it and that is why we are the rallying cry the world needs to change because if we don’t collectively protest against the vast injustices against Earth, who will? This is why it makes it so apt that the cast and director are all young people demanding change from a reckless older generation. It is also especially apt that the play has been targeted towards the youth of today (primarily matriculants). Through its rally cries, the play seems to be intending to invoke a rebellious spark in its target audience so that they can do exactly what the play itself is doing – to protest.

This has been especially well done in two key ways: through the usage of a medium accessible to the youth and the emotion that this medium invokes. In the first instance, the National Arts Festival succinctly describes the play’s medium and intention as using “elements of hip hop, spoken word, movement and song” in order to convey “an ecological protest poem that gives voice to a profound sense of injustice, a rightful rage, and a fear of what is to come.” Here, the play uses an extended poem of rebellion as a form of protest that not only harkens to poor theatre in its stark setting that has no props at all but also protest theatre – and it does so excellently. As the country is no stranger to both poor and protest theatre given its history, the play is immediately accessible to even the most casual theatre goer and loses nothing in its stark setting and its almost chaotic yet simple performance by its stars. In fact, the usage of poor and protest theatre techniques only highlights what the play is actually trying to do. By not decorating its premise in fancy set pieces and overtly complex plot, the play is able to speak to an audience that may or may not even be aware of the disaster that’s impending, invoking the essence of protest theatre giant Athol Fugard with a medium that even hip-hop giant Jay Z would be proud of.

This effortlessly leads up to the second instance: the emotion invoked. Throughout the piece, the actors act out an almost chaotic rendition of the protest poem that makes up the entirety of the piece. In the piece the actors give off a stellar performance that makes the piece seem like an almost authentic real-time protest that would make even the most sceptical audience member want to rally up with them. Though its unsure whether the setting of the play would work in a larger audience, given the relatively small audience size I was in, the actors were able to get up close and personal with all of us. In the piece, the audience members sat across the stage that created fragmented groups of people where the actors were able to perform around them. This was able to break the fourth wall and allow the audience to get in on the action. Though audience participation was null, through the intimate nature of the piece it was able to strongly convey its message to an audience who felt part of the piece which arguably only strengthened the emotions the play was trying to invoke. In the beginning, I felt uncomfortable to the unusual setting of the piece, but by the end I was just as angry as the actors had seemed. From passive viewer in the beginning, I wanted to be just as rebellious as the actors were by the end. In this sense, the rally cry the piece intended to invoke was a roaring success.

All in all, Burning Rebellion is almost a masterclass in protest theatre aimed at climate change. Though unusual in setting and medium, it’s the play’s peculiarity that aids to its advantage in the end. If you aren’t move by a protest that has never been more relevant to the climate the world is in, then you must have been watching the wrong the piece.

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Purposeful Disinformation Campaign: Exposing the Curious Case of Beyoncé and Solange

All hail Queen Bey, right? Wrong! Beyoncé is a lot of things but Queen is not one of them. Like, how can a so called Queen do such a thorough job in bamboozling a host of people, especially the Beyhive, which is supposed her loyal fanbase devoted to the ‘Royal Highness’ of music. The only thing Beyoncé is Queen at is being the Queen of Deception. She is nothing but a filthy liar and deep down everyone knows that. From the beginning of her career, Bey has lied about a number of things: that she writes her own songs, that Kelly is not on the second verse of Check on It, and that she gave birth to Queen Blue Ivy Carter.  But perhaps her most deviant lie is that she’s only 38 years old and that Blue Ivy is her first child! In fact, it has been a well-documented fact that Beyoncé not only lied about her age, but she also lied about not being Solange’s mother. This campaign seeks to enlighten people about the truth about the Queen of Deception in order to end her reign of terror and restore the natural order of Earth and in turn, hopefully end climate change whilst at it.

I think it is important to note that I am not talking out of my butt here. Everything I am saying is not only fact, but comes with concrete evidence that Beyoncé is a filthy liar and that Blue Ivy and the Beyhive deserve better than what they are getting. The facts begin with her age. A few years ago, someone from the Texas Health Department came forward with some piping hot tea stating that she saw Beyoncé’s birth certificate and on it stated that Beyoncé was not born in 1981 as she claims to be On it, the birth certificate says quite clearly that Beyoncé was born on the forth of September 1974. This has further been confirmed by a former Columbia employee that states that she found Beyoncé’s driver’s licence one day that also stated that she was born in 1974. This would make Beyoncé 45 years old and not 38 as she claims. Perhaps the most damning evidence about her age comes from popular actress Gabrielle Union. In an interview in 2008, Union states that she and Beyoncé have been good friends since they were teenagers. Union was born in October of 1972, making her 46 years old. This would make it impossible for Beyoncé to be 38 because if what Union is saying is true (which I believe it is), Union would have been in her teens in 1985 and Beyoncé would have been just over 4 years old which makes no sense at all. So for them to have been “good friends” in their teenage years, it would make much more sense that Beyoncé was in fact born in 1974, making her 13 when Union would be 15. This makes the Beyoncé being Solange’s mother much more palpable because Beyoncé’s age claims would have made her just 5 years old when she gave birth to Solange. But in the light of her real age being exposed here, Beyoncé would actually have been 13 years old when she gave birth to Solange –making her a teenage mother!

So where do this information actually come from? Well, from a former employee of Columbia Records who says she got this information from a source very close to Beyoncé: her cousin. In a statement to the Daily Mirror, the former employee states: “Her cousin told me Beyoncé is the mother of Solange. She told me this in confidence, while we were talking about teen pregnancies. The cousin in question is not of sarcastic nature, so I doubt they would come up with something as scandalous and controversial about her own cousin”. This all happened whilst Beyoncé was on the brink of stardom with her group Destiny’s Child (then known as Girl’s Tyme). So to cover this up, Beyoncé’s parents Mathew and Tina Knowles put forth the claim that Solange was their child and not Beyoncé’s. Further, the former employee hypothesizes that this is the reason Beyoncé has those “child-bearing hips” even prior to allegedly giving birth to Blue Ivy. So why would her cousin come forth with such damning evidence of Bey? Well, the cousin goes to claim that if Beyoncé had never made fun of her weight whilst knowing she has body issues at a Christmas party, then maybe she would not have found the need to expose her and her lies. So then not only is Beyoncé a liar, she fat shames as well! Thus, Beyoncé’s cousin had every right to expose her. And seeing as these “rumours” were picked up by so many publications and the fact that they have been circulating for years, there is no doubt that these rumours are true. Yes, they claim these rumour are “wild” and a “conspiracy,” but how much wilder are they seeing that a reality star is President?

 Memes:

Above I have created four memes that basically describe the fact that Beyoncé is a filthy liar. In here, I used the popular youth populated social media site Twitter to make these memes. The reason I chose Twitter is because as said, it is youth orientated. These memes are also how one would make memems in these days. Instead of the way classic memes were created in the 2000s, these memes serve to create content by placing a body of text that is followed by what is commonly known as “reaction photos.” Herein reaction photos are popular reactions taken from media that are there to convey the reaction a specific moment or body of text would have. In doing so they relate to how classic memes are created, but have been updated to suit social media platforms, espcially Twitter. I have also chosen to use Twitter because how far it can reach. Even without a huge following, memes have the potential to reach a vast audience if the meme is successful. You also do not have to follow a particular account in order to see the meme (such as Facebook and Instagram). Because of this, memes have the potential to make the most amount of impression on people without the need for a user to actually subscribe to that particular account.

In here I have chosen to make three memes which essentially tell the story of Beyoncé’s lies that are both funny and factual. In the first meme we have the setup of the campaign that see’s Fergie and Oprah sharing some wine with the above caption directly addressing the story, using tow popular phrases to communicate that (“tea” and “y’all ain’t ready for that tea yet”). This is all to humorously setup the conversation Beyoncé being Solange’s mother that is relatable to youth audience and popular colloquialisms found on Twitter. The second one is what refers to the bevy of photos Beyoncé recently uploaded to her website beyonce.com where she used “Your Bey at 38” to refer to her alleged age. This meme seeks to debunk Beyoncé’s false statements that she is 38 because we all now know that that is a lie and is placed second because this sets up the story that Beyoncé’s lying about her age to cover up the fact that she is Solange’s mother. The third meme is another caption followed by a gif. This directly addresses false testimonies that Blue Ivy is Beyoncé’s first child. It is followed by a popular gift of Whitney saying her now iconic phrase “I wanna see the receipts” used to refer to an instance where someone wants to see proof that something is true. This is important because to my knowledge, Beyoncé has yet to prove not only that she is 38 but that Blue Ivy is her first child. The last meme is a bonus meme that refers to the body shaming Beyoncé’s cousin said she did and is the reason she came forward with the truth: if Beyoncé never body shamed her cousin, maybe her cousin would not have spilled the beans.

These memes were used to convey humour with the truth in order to reach the largest audience as possible and is setup in a way that is the typical set up of memes on Twitter. I highly doubt that using memes as it has historically been used will be a successful way to convey my message because it is an outdated way of using memes and I suspect it will be ignored by the audience I am trying to reach. These memes were also used humorously because humour is one of the most popular ways to convey messages on Twitter. Further, the particular way in which the memes were used is especially apt to use on “stan” twitter – a key demographic in my campaign. Stan Twitter refers to a specific part of Twitter that is devoted to accounts who support and are zealous fans of particular artists. In doing so, my campaign will not only reach stans against Beyoncé (such as the Rihanna Navy) but also the Beyhive who need to be educated on the “Queen’s” deceptions – that way the memes will reach a large demographic on Twitter which is one of my key intentions. It will also hopefully reach other sectors of twitter (namely Black Twitter and Gay Twitter) because it utilizes the language, colloquialisms and reaction photos popular in those sectors.

Lastly, I am aware that this particular campaign is particularly controversial. This is because we live in an era that is obsessed with celebrities and celebrity culture where Beyoncé is ruler of all things celebrity (she has also been known as “The First Lady of Music” and “the celebrity’s celebrity”). This campaign uses controversy as a means to spark conversation. It is quite well known that the best way in order to spark conversation on things on Twitter is through controversy. The campaign will thus reach a large audience and is meant to be both shocking and funny. Whether or not this campaign will successfully convert non-believers on Beyoncé’s lies, it will spark a conversation amongst my key demographics and as such spread the good news to both believers and non-believers. What is important here is that people are informed on Beyoncé’s treacherous lies and whether or not they believe me is out of my control. Beyoncé is over.

Thus my campaign is important in spreading the truth about Beyoncé and her ways. The campaign ultimately aims to expose Beyoncé’s lies and dethrone her from being Queen Bey and incite her as being a new Queen, the Queen of Deception. Viva Rihanna! Down with Beyoncé!  

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Pickled Fish and Family Traditions: Is My Mother’s Famous Recipe “Green?”

Food has been one of the key ways in which humanity sustains itself. Food has permeated society in ways not seen by many other human advances. Because of the rising populations in the world and partly because of massive food wastage, there has never been more food on the planet, nor has there ever been as many places to get your food from. As humans, we need food to sustain ourselves. But this sustenance goes beyond mere sources of energy and (sometimes lack of) nutrients we need to continue living, food has transcended into the social and cultural spectrum that permeates through humanity like a (benevolent) plague. Food is arguably used as a means to bring people together more than it is to sustain life – and one of the most notable ways are is how food is able to bring families together. From Sunday meals, to familial celebrations, food is everywhere families go to come together – even to a point where it has become tradition. But how does this happen and where does all this food come from? Using my own family and a family traditional meal as a starting point, this essay will look at how food possesses a cultural and community meaning in my life and will reflect on where the food used in this traditional meal comes from.

The traditional dish I have chosen to use is my mother’s famous pickled fish recipe. There is perhaps no other meal from her which I adore the most. The dish is both spicy and sweet, something that my mother seems to be getting better and better at the more she makes it. Oddly enough, I do not consider myself a huge fish fan. As a true Joburg omnivore, my tastes lie more in cows than it does in fish, but this could largely be attributed to the fact that my father owns a butchery which sells the most delectable pieces of meat I have ever had. As such, I could have chosen a multitude of the beef meals my mother makes (like her other famous dish: frikedels and chips). However, no other dish she makes is as equally traditional as it is delicious – and boy, does it feel special.

Because of tradition, we only eat pickled fish once a year. This is done during Easter time, more specifically Good Friday. This is largely because, as Catholics, we are not allowed to eat red meat on Good Friday so to apease our carnivorous side, we eat fish instead. We eat the pickled fish along with regularly fried hake, fish cakes and hot cross buns: the pickled fish, however, is the undeniable star and the only fish dish we explicitly only eat once a year. Why we specifically only eat the pickled fish once a year is a bit unclear to me, to be honest. But, that is precisely why the dish has become a staple meal in my family on Good Friday, and has become very much a tradition in my family and community (because this once-a-year thing seems to be a coloured thing) which makes the dish feel undeniably special. In fact, every member in my family who has had my mother’s pickled fish has cited it as being one of the dishes that they anticipate from my mother the most. As such, the dish has transcended from being just another meal eaten separately in our rooms, and has become something of an event where my entire (immediate) family always gathers together around the table to eat together as if it was our Last Supper. Aside from obviously Jesus dying for our sins and stuff, it is what I look the most forward to during the Easter weekend – even trumping the plethora of chocolate that comes on the Sunday and Monday! This meal undeniably brings my family together as well as many other coloured families because it seems to be one of the few truly traditional dishes that my community has.

The dish even has a familial history in my family. Given that my mother’s side of the family originates from Cape Town, it is quite apt that it is a fish dish that the family is most famous for. It has been a dish that has survived generations and its delectability does not seem to be slowing down any time soon. From what my mother has told me, her mother used to make it every Good Friday as well and it is her side where the specific way of making our pickled fish comes from. Though she did not get the recipe directly from her mother, she got it from her sister who got it from their mother. As such, the dish has a distinctly familial heritage that has passed through generations, becoming the powerful, highly cultural traditional dishes in my family.

Being that the recipe is deceptively simple, there is not much to theorize on where the ingredients came from – it is just fish, onions, and spices really. The fish we usually use is perhaps the most widely used fish produce in the country – I&Js hake. I&J aptly has its headquarters in Cape Town and its site says where it gets its fish (the South African Hake Trawl Fishery) is MSC certified – meaning that its fish has been certified sustainable sea food. The site even has a section dedicated to sustainability where it claims that its fish is not over-caught so to sustain the hake population as per The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery’s Total Allowable Catch; they also claim to trawl their fish in only dedicated fishing spots that reportedly takes only 4.4% of South Africa’s territorial waters which “bounds and prevent trawling outside of the ring fence, subsequently creating a natural refuge for hake and other fish;” and they claim to be careful on what to fish, stating that they have a commitment to a WWF-SASSI to fully use sustainable seafood products by 2016 (I&Js, year not specified) – what all this actually means is not clear, and could very well be a well-crafted love letter to greenwashing. Where we get our onions are usually from major supermarkets, most likely through Spar as there is one very close to our home. Not much can be said about where it gets it produce from because from what I could gather is only that the produce is only of the highest quality “all at great value prices” (Spar, year not specified) – what this means is as unclear as where they actually get their food from. Most unclear though, is where the spices used comes from. The spice is usually bought at this store not far from our Eldorado Park home that sells a variety of spices, meat and other ingredients – but the usual brands we buy from is Exquisite Spices and Pride of India. When thinking about all of this, and especially after our class on Food, it is a bit alarming how little we know about where it comes from and how little these sites actually make transparent on where and how exactly their food produce is made. We are just as ignorant about our food’s origins as these sites are secretive. And where some information of the origins of their food produce is given, there is practically no information on the inner workings of what actually goes into making their product – from where it was made to what was put into it both before and after catching/harvesting them. But is this our fault? Is it our complicity with where and how are food is made led corporations to shroud their produce in secrecy – supposedly on the basis of protecting their brand not only because of competion, but because of us too? Do we even want to know what goes into the food we eat and how and where it is produced? I don’t know. What I do believe, though, is that it is these corporations basic responsibility to be as transparent with us as possible.

Thus food has become more than a basic necessity we need to survive. Food has the power to bring people together, create tradition and unite cultures. It is because of this monumental power of food that it is becoming increasingly important that we know what exactly we are putting into our bodies. Because if we do not, we might just find that our traditions might just become our doom.

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New Media: A Symbol of Radical Democracy or Digital Hegemony?

From sovereignty to hegemony, the nature of power and the way in which it circulates and reproduces itself has transformed almost has quickly as society has progressed. Due to the current socio-political climate of the past one hundred or so years, especially with the advent of liberalism, obtaining power through physical force has almost phased out by significant portion of contemporary society. In its place, instead, has come the advent of soft power and the idea of ‘manufactured consent’ proposed by influential theorists Antonio Gramsci and Michel Foucault. One of the major entities who knowingly or unknowingly reproduce these various manifestations of soft power in contemporary society is the media – particularly traditional media outlets like television, newspapers and magazine. With the creation of new media outlets such as social media, however, has come the prospect of the masses finally being able to challenge and bringing awareness about these forms of power on an unprecedented scale through advents like Hashtag Activism and citizen journalism. But how true is this really? Has new media helped challenge the prevalence of soft power influences in traditional mass media, or has manifestations of soft power merely replicated itself onto these digital spaces? This essay will look at the most dominant form of soft power – hegemony – and will be arguing that though new media – particularly social media sites like Twitter and Facebook – has presented the broader public with the ability to challenge mainstream hegemony at an unprecedented capacity, hegemony has simply replicated itself at an unprecedented and global scale which poses a serious threat to the general society.

To begin let there be a brief discussion on one of the main concepts centred throughout this essay: hegemony. Proposed by Antonio Gramsci, hegemony is a form of consented domination of one group over another where he argues that there are a multitude of systems of attitudes, values, and ideologies in place to which serve to maintain and legitimate the established order (Maggard, S., 1984: 69). Within a capitalist society, Gramsci notes that dominant forms of power stem from and are controlled by the ruling elite who control the means of production, and thus in a Marxist sense, maintain control of over dominant forms of culture, values and ideologies perpetuated in society as the economy forms the base of society (Altheide, D., 1984: 477).

One of the major ways this is established and reproduced is within the traditional mass media. According to Altheide (1984: 477), “media hegemony refers to the dominance of a certain way of life and thought and to the way in which that dominant concept of reality is diffused throughout public as well as private dimensions of social life.” As the media is overall a business geared towards profit, media products disseminated by traditional media are them themselves coded messages about the nature of society and the productive forces in control of them laden with capitalist ideologies which is a key proponent in maintain and reproducing hegemony (Altheide, D., 1984: 478). Furthermore, Atheide (1984: 478-479) goes on to argue that in terms of the news productions, journalists are socialized and moulded in order to replicate the dominant ideology pervaded by the media entity which in turn has them merely replicate the status quo instead of challenging hegemonic values in the interest of society in the ways in which they are traditionally meant to: hegemony is contained in these media products and they are laden with the ever pervasive dominant ideology. Put simply, traditional media serves as a means of disseminating the ideas and information brought on by the dominant group which favours them, popularizes their ideas, and helps them to maintain the status quo and thus maintain hegemonic control over their subordinate masses (Habib, A., 2013).

However, all is not gloom and doom. Hegemony is not a form of domination that is set in stone, but however is a continuous process that is constantly replicating and re-replicating itself in order to maintain itself, working as a sense of common sense and not concrete fact (Habib, A., 2013). As such, hegemony can be challenged. In situations when a social movement becomes stronger than the dominant ideologies perpetuated by hegemony, Habib (2013) argues that this will result in the counter-hegemonic force brought on by this social resistance to overthrow the existing hegemony and become the new form hegemony. Furthermore, from the perspective of critical theory, ideological freedom from existing hegemonies can be overcome through the identified and actively resisted (Altheide, D., 1984: 478).

One of the most influential ways in which the hegemony of traditional mass media is challenged is through new media which will be analysed through the lens of the #FeesMustFall (#FMF) and the #RhodesMustFall (#RMF) movements, shining examples of Hashtag Activism. #FMF and #RMH were social movements originating in South Africa which began in 2015. Put simply, where #FMF was a movement that called for 0% fee increment in national universities, #RMF was a movement that called for the removal of the Cecil Rhodes statue at the University of Cape Town. Both, however, sparked a mini revolution in the country and served to highlight the continued racial injustices in the country as well as call for decolonization of universities across the country. As can be seen by the ‘#,’ these movements found much of their success as a result of a nationwide social media campaign that assisted in the call to action, sparked (inter)national debate and was an instrumental tool in the dissemination of information and the organization of the nationwide protests (Daniels, G., 2016: 176-177). Here, protests echoed the robust agnostic spaces found in radical democracy through the diversification of political voices all vying to be heard and served as an instrumental tool in challenging the role in which mainstream media plays in the maintenance and reproduction of hegemony (Daniels, G., 2016: 177).

As one of the key aspects of radical democracy, “agonistic spaces exist where legitimate adversaries fight, but within the symbolic space of democracy… [where] in this symbolic space, we must accept conflict, difference, pluralism and division as part of politics and society” (Daniels, G., 2016: 180). As discussed, social media and Hashtag Activism was instrumental in the creation of national debate centring around the protests that allowed a diverse space for voices of all backgrounds to be heard, echoing the robust agnostic spaces so prevalently found in radical democracy, with many participating in the protest noting that social media allowed for them to write their own narrative centred around the protest (Daniels, G., 2016: 179). Furthermore, with the advent of new and digital media, came the rise of civic participation in the form of citizen journalism which serves to connect participant to wider issues of broadening democratic and communicative space and communication. Daniels (2016: 182) goes on to argue that the advent of this in new media is allowing for a widening diversification of voices, becoming an ever expansive space which serves to strengthen the public sphere with social media being radically important because of unprecedented inclusion of more voices contributing to the public sphere, voices previously marginalized and silenced due to their previous lack of a platform – strengthening not only civic participation but deepening democracy. Because of this, it is thereby argued that new media has been an important tool in upending – or at the very least, disrupting – the ever pervasive hegemony instilled and maintained by traditional mass media (Daniels, G., 2016: 189). As seen by the movement’s success in reclaiming their own narratives, it can be argued that though new media and its creation of diverse agonistic spaces have not completely usurped traditional mass media, it had at its least knocked down its number one spot in shaping the discourses and narratives centred around the movement and its protests. Though this might have been somewhat fleeting given the movement’s relatively small shelf life, the #FMF and #RMF movements has in this respect shown it possible that the media’s main hegemonic control can be unsettled and challenged and the advent of a counter-hegemony, however fleeting it may be, can be ushered into its place (Daniels, G., 2016: 189-190).

But just because new media, in particular social media, has shown its potential in overthrowing hegemonies, does that make it free of its own hegemonies? And if counter-hegemonies can take place in new media, is it not equally possible that existing hegemonies and other forms of soft power can find themselves reproduced in these digital spaces much like in traditional mass media? Sadly, it seems as this is to be the case.

One of the key ways in which hegemony and other forms of soft power is reproduced, or rather in this case enforced is through the idea of digital surveillance. As discussed, new media has come to be one of the key ways in which counter-hegemonies such as social movements can used to reach a broader audience, diversify public opinion, and can be used to rally people in support of said movements, but so can it be used by the government and other corporations as a form of surveillance of the happenings within those movements (Uldam, J., 2016: 202). Just as easily as new media can be used to expose the wrongdoings of the government and bring their secrets to public domain, can it be used to facilitate government and corporate monitoring (Uldam, J., 2016: 203). Through, and perhaps because of, new media platforms such as Twitter, companies and governmental corporations are provided the means in which to monitor civil society’s actions and regain control of their own visibility (Uldam, J., 2016: 204). And such, in this respect “Foucault’s notion of disciplinary power through the visibility of the many still bears relevance because it can help capture companies’ monitoring critical voices in online media and the strategies of management of (the visibility of) stakeholders that underpin them” and as such, even though these tools enabled by new media can serve civil society, unequal power relations between these entities still seem to privilege government and corporate elites(Uldam, J., 2016: 204). Furthermore, drawing on Lacan’s notion of fantasy which Uldam argues to be the assumption that sustains hegemony, “policy interventions are underpinned by ‘fantasies’ as forms of discursive power that condition struggles over the societal directions that should be taken” which then assumes that within a society that political consensus can be achieved, completely negating antagonisms (Uldam, J., 2016: 204).  Thus, relying on this fantasy of political consensus is merely a reinforcement of neoliberalism as opposed as a means of directly challenging it, because, as discussed previously relations of antagonism in society are a key proponent of radical democracy which is instrumental in the transformation of power relations in society (Uldam, J., 2016: 205). With the sort of self-regulating influence brought on by the public digital surveillance by elite institutions, these institutions are thus able to through the use of soft power effectively derail and impede possible forms of the sort counter-hegemonic possibilities that new media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook potentially hold (Uldam, J., 2016: 205).

Lastly, another form in which the democratic possibilities of new media is derailed comes in the form of digital images, or new media texts, used as a form of political subjugation. What is a key form of the maintenance of soft power in modern societies in accordance to Foucault is the elite institutions use of fear where non-hierarchal forms of control are used to reinforce and reproduce unequal power relations in society which is maintained by the internalization of hegemony (Kasara, M., 2017: 179). These forms of discipline as a form of control, though not directly a form of sovereignty, nevertheless are able to achieve much of the same results. Far from being excluded in the narrative of developing a counter-hegemonic narrative, new media plays an instrumental role in governing individuals and groups as well as holding the capability of managing and altering the behaviour of the masses in which it controls: “the Internet in today’s world is the [pa]nopticon in which individuals are watched without knowing that they are being, who’s watching, or the extent that they are being watched” (Kasara, M., 2017: 179). Though this echoes sentiments discussed above about digital surveillance, an instrumental way in which soft power is reproduced other than through the regulation of the fantasy of the political by those in power, is that in this way new media operates in way which regulate (the online) behaviour of the public as new media hold the potential of perpetuating the internalized fear of being captured, humiliated, publically shamed or punished (Kasara, M., 2017: 179). Furthermore, through the propagation of images and forms of public humiliation and punishment via digital media, this actually hold the potential for any groups of people to exercise power as forms through the intimidation of their viewers (the online public), scarily transforming and reproducing hegemonic control that is not just propagated by elites, but also to the broader public as well (Kasara, M., 2017: 180). With the advent of new media any person or group of people with access to the internet is now able to disseminate information concerning humiliation, bigotry, and punishment in society, instilling fear amongst its viewers which could even result in them themselves policing and disciplining the actions of other, radically transforming hegemonic control to an unprecedented global scale (Kasara, M., 2017: 180-181). A rather telling example of this is Russia’s anti-LGBT group Occupy Paedophilia which lure gay men to them through online social media platforms in order to humiliate and even assault them, all the while recording their actions and disseminating this onto popular social media platforms. Not only is this in line with Russia’s anti-LGBT laws and feelings, this also serves to perpetuate these ideals and values onto the public influencing the behaviour other members of society feel towards LGBT people as well as policing and regulating the behaviour of LGBT people in Russia, all without physical force. If this is not an example of the unnerving ways in which hegemony and soft power can be propagated through new media platforms, then what is?

Hegemony has been constantly used as means of controlling the masses of people in contemporary societies without the use or need for force, rather through subtle but profound ways of manufacturing the consent of the masses. Traditionally reproduced and promoted through traditional mass media platforms, it is becoming increasingly evident that hegemonic control is finding its way onto new media platforms, the most notable being social media. Though it can be argued that hegemony is challenged through the advent of new platform via national (and sometimes global) social movements operating at a previously unprecedented rate such as in #FeesMustFall, it is equally and worryingly possible for new media platforms to propagate and spread hegemony just as easy as traditional media, if not even more so given the global scale of new media platforms. ‘Tis a scary time indeed. References:

Altheide, D. 1984. Media hegemony: a failure of perspective. The public opinion quarterly. 48(2): 476-490.

Daniels, G. 2016. Scrutinizing Hashtag Activism in the #MustFall protests in South Africa in 2015. In B. Mustvairo (ed), Digital Activism in the social media era. Cambridge: Palgrave Macmilam

Habib, A. 2013. In the age of citizen journalism and social media does Gramsci’s theory of hegemonic functions of the media still hold true? Online, retrieved 20 August 2018: https://ahsanthehabib.wordpress.com/category/in-the-age-of-citizen-journalism-and-social-media-does-gramscis-theory-of-hegemonic-functions-of-the-media-still-hold-true/

Kasra, M. 2017. Vigilantism, public shaming, and social media hegemony: the role of digital-networked images in humiliation and socio-political control. The communication review. 20(3): 172-188

Uldam, J. 2016. Corporate management of visibility and the fantasy of the post-political: social media and surveillance. New media and society. 18: 201-219

Waggard, S. 1984. Cultural hegemony: the news media and Appalachia. Appalachian Journal. 11(2): 67-83

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Slice an Dice: An Acedemic Review of Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film by Carol Clover

Since its induction, horror films are one of the most evocative genres of film of all time. Horror has the power to evoke virtually any emotion out of its viewers. The genre has the power to make its audience feel fear, it can make them feel happiness, it can make them feel empowered, and it can even make them cry. But what is most interesting about the genre, perhaps, is the hidden codes and allegories contained within the film that have a lot to say about the socio-political climate of society at both micro and macro levels, Despite this, prior to the time of the release of Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, horror had been a grossly understudied subject and when it was studied it had been largely subject to the kinds of scrutiny felt by no other genre of film. In her seminal study of gender in horror films (particularly those taking place from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s), Clover provides a detailed and enlightening analysis of the underlying codes allegories contained in modern horror films as it pertains particularly to gender. She largely does this through the analysis of three subgenres in horror that have a (seemingly) central focus on female characters: the slasher film, the rape-revenge film, and the occult film.

At the heart of the book lies Clover’s central argument. Herein, Clover argues for the reasons why it is that young men – the majority audience of these particular genres – are able to identify with female protagonists in these films despite – and perhaps because of – traditional sentiments around cinema spectatorship of the time largely through the theoretical framework of psychoanalysis.  Though the majority of the book roughly revolves around this argument, Clover does make interesting arguments on gender in horror as a whole, the role it places in spectatorship, and the notably frequent amount of times the genre makes use of dual gaze of the assaultive and reactive gaze where the subject of the gaze (at least temporarily) shifts between men and women. Despite the dominant discourse on horror films at the time which frame the genre as a wholly exploitative and ridiculous display of the worst misogyny has to offer, Clover provides a detailed, convincing argument to the ways in which horror (particularly subgenres covered) both reinforces and disrupts traditional notions of Western cinema spectatorship. Though she does not completely refute arguments made by film theorists and critics alike, Clover does provide at the very least an interesting analysis on the ways gender performs in horror movies and the implications it has on not just its spectators, but society as whole – something that had been scarcely covered prior to the time of its release. Succinctly, Clover is arguing that horror has a lot more to say than its gory exploitative exterior might imply. Through the analysis of multiple prominent (and infamous) films in each subgenre covered and framing it predominantly around a psychoanalytic framework, Clover provides an incredibly insightful – if not noticeably limited by its very theoretical framework – analysis on both women in horror and the men who watch and create them.

The book begins with an introduction that largely serves to form the base of the rest of the book and details not only Clover’s central arguments, but what the book as a whole will seek to uncover. This introduction begins with an analysis of the occult film Carrie. What is interesting about this beyond its analysis is the way in which the framing of this analysis broadly ties in the rest of the book. By giving her own understanding of the film and juxtaposing its seemingly feminist undertones to Stephen King’s (the author of the book version of the film) argument that Carrie herself is meant to be an embodiment of adolescent male anxieties, Clover is able provide a surprisingly apt summary of the entire book that becomes increasingly clearer as the book concludes: young men are able to identify with female protagonists (coined victim-heroes) not despite of their differing genders but because of it – something distinctively rooted in one-sex theory.

The following chapter begins her first subgenre analysis, the slasher film. The chapter opens up with a description and explanation of what a slasher film is, including all its tropes and narrative devices. What is immediately interesting is that Clover uses slasher films that are not incredibly critically acclaimed and are largely dismissed for their brutality and vulgarity (with the exceptions of Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street) that on the base seem superficial and generic on their exteriors (such as her detailed analysis of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), yet, for better or worse, say a lot interiorly. As the chapter progresses what was insightful is her analysis of the Killer and the Final Girl (a term she coined herself). Herein we have Clover describing the Final Girl as the (almost exclusively female) lone survivor of the Killer’s rampage, and the only one able to thwart and defeat the (male) killer (35). Though more prominent in the 1980s than mid-1970s, the Final Girl does so almost entirely on her own where male help is almost useless and entirely disposable – a stark subversion of the traditional cinematic apparatus situating the female as solely a victim and the male as solely heroic (37). More interesting – and a running theme throughout the book – is Clover’s analysis of the gender-swop that takes place here. As the movie progresses, Clover notes the feminization of the Killer (such as a stunted childhood) and the masculinization of the Final Girl (such as her usage of phallocentric tools). Together with the gaze swop from the Killer in the beginning to the Final Girl in the end, genders are swopped psychosexually and where gender now is not contingent on sex and the story becomes explicitly hers (49). The young male viewer is then able to swop identification with the male killer and distinctly towards the female victim-hero (i.e. the audience becomes both victim in the beginning and hero by the end). The story might be hers but it is still expressively male-centred (59).

The second chapter centres on occult films. Beginning much the same as the previous chapter, Clover describes the occult film in detail. On a literal level, Clover describes the Occult film as white science’s battle and submission to black magic. However, as this is distinctly coded through gender, occult films become yet another seemingly subversive narrative account on gender. Here, white science is coded as masculine whereas black magic is coded as feminine (with the exception of priests and children). What stands out as most interesting is then its subtle expression of gender swopping and Clover’s argument that though occult films have women at its core, is still decidedly male-centred – a story about a man in crisis (90). The woman serves as the body and site of black magic due to her femininity being more openness to the penetration of the black magic force (a vessel/accessory), the man serves as the psyche whose story the film is ultimately about. In such, the male, in order to save the female body, must renounce his white science conceptions of rationality (coded as masculine) and become open (coded as feminine) to the ideas and happenings and existence of black magic (99). Through openness the male is able to adopt a ‘good’ masculinity and fully renounce his old cold, distant and closed off ‘bad’ masculinity – if not he is likely to die or lose the woman. For Clover, the nature of the occult film and its psychosexual underpinning leave seemingly feminist readings of the film on hold because it implicitly implies that the creation of the new ‘good’ masculinity comes at expense the female and is still largely male-centric – for the male to more emotionally open, the female must become hysterical (113).

The third chapter introduces the rape-revenge film whereby the story centres on a woman who is brutally raped by one or more men and the similarly brutal revenge she enacts on the men/man involved (and sometimes even those complicit in rape). In a procaqtive study of I Spit on Your Grave and its influencer Deliverance, Clover details the socio-political underpinnings of the rape-revenge that veer away from just gender and incorporate class in its analysis (the only chapter to integrate satisfactory intersectionality). Many rape-revenge films in horror, Clover notes, often occupy on the double axis of male/female and country/city. Succinctly, this entails that these films have an intrinsically class nature to them that is intertwined with its gender-bending. In the rape-revenge film country is coded as masculine and is depicted with the male antagonists where these male country folk are more often than not depicted as poor, highly patriarchal, borderline uncivilised, and live beyond the norms of social law and order; whilst the city is coded as feminine depicted by a (mostly) affluent female protagonist who serves as the films victim-hero and represents civility and capitalist wealth (and exploitation) (144). In such, country men are ideologically positioned as wrong and their act of raping our city female victim-hero is depicted as an inevitable, making the revenge half of the film all the more justifiable. Much like the Final Girl in slasher films, the victim-hero and male antagonists have a gender swap where the men are metaphorically (and sometimes physically) castrated and penetrated by the now masculinized woman (representing psychosexual male anxieties on castration) (159). Rape becomes the problem of the woman to solve on her own and through her masculinization, the story once again appeals to male identification with the female victim-hero where the woman’s brutality is labelled as sweetly justifiable despite his own psychosexual desires/fears on castration and penetration (164).

The final chapter is perhaps the densest in the book that has three distinct but interlinking parts: a critique on film theory and its depiction of horror as solely sadist (i.e. assaultive), an analysis of horror as being both sadist and masochistic (i.e. assaultive and reactive), and the reiteration and settlement of Clover’s central argument. Beginning with an analysis of Peeping Tom, Clover highlights ways in which the film (argued to itself be a critique on cinema) occupies at a level of sadism (Mark Lewis’ murder of the women in front of his camera) and at a level of masochism (Lewis’ own experiences as a child study in front of his Father’s camera and his own eventual suicide) (179). By doing this, Clover argues for the inconsistencies of film theory to wholly regard horror as purely sadistic on the grounds of an assaultive gaze (coded as masculine) and dismissive as one of the vilest forms of modern cinema in its treatment of women. Here, film theory argues that modern cinema looks at women largely through the male gaze where the man serves as the subject, objectifying women by occupying at a level of voyeuristic sadism (the assaultive gaze) with horror being one of the extreme examples of this (206). However, Clover makes an interesting argument that what film theorists ignore, “in the name of feminism,” is that by positioning of horror movie occupying a purely assaultive gaze is to ignore a glaring blind-spot in their argument. Once again bringing forth the subgenre’s described (particularly the rape-revenge film), Clover notes that viewer identification with the victim being one of the tantamount features of the modern horror films, a fact that is heavily exploited by its filmmakers (210). Being that horror’s intention is to cause fear and pain onto its spectators, Clover argues that it is the filmmakers who largely occupy the assaultive gaze whilst the spectators occupy the reactive gaze (but there is an element of the assaultive gaze) which prove its tendency to occupy not simply in the realm of sadism, but of masochism as well despite what common criticism imply (212). Thus in terms of psychosexual fear and desire, the modern horror film, through its exploitation of Freudian notion of ‘feminine masochism’ and the tendency of repetition compulsion in its viewers, is able to locate the (young male) spectator in the reactive gaze (with secondary influences of the assaultive gaze) by aligning his identification with that of the (female) victim(hero) and locating his psychosexual experiences almost firmly is masochism and not simply in sadism as implied by film theorists (222). And it is because of this tendency of feminine masochism that Clover argues answers her overall argument as to why young male spectators would “choose to ‘feel’ fear and pain through the figure of a female – a female, in fact, whose very bodily femaleness is at centre stage” (226).

Clover’s argument, here, is entirely plausible. By positioning horror in the discursive framework of psychoanalysis, Clover is able to sufficiently argue the various ways in which gender plays out in Horror whilst still securely situating it in her initial argument. Though some of her claims would have been dismissible, her extensive use of actual film examples provides a detailed understanding on what Clover is actually trying to say, making the employment of her ‘evidence’ wholly convincing – especially highlighted in her critique of film theory. Lastly, it is interesting the way she positions women in horror. Though there could arguably be a number of feminist undertones in the subgenres described and it is impressive the extent of their subversive natures, they still comes across as heavily male-centric as Clover makes it seem that despite what may seem the story still revolves almost entirely around the experience of it majority audience – young white men.

However, her analysis is not without its faults. Perhaps what strikes as her most glaring problem is her over-usage of her theoretical framework. Though positioning gender psychoanalytically provides at the very least an interesting analysis and heavily influences her argument, Clover’s sole usage of psychoanalysis leaves a few things to be desired. Instead of situating gender in horror under the realms of their social and cultural contexts, Clover misses out a few interesting argument that would add further nuance to her argument(s). For example, in her study of slasher films in the 1980s, by extending her framework to incorporate socio-cultural backgrounds of the time, Trencansky (2001) is able to highlight the many potential allegories within the slasher film (such teenage transgression of neoliberal suburban values marked by the ‘transgressors’ in the film and the ascent to adult agency marked by the Final Girl triumphantly defeating her oppressor) and the analysis of the killer as being an allegory of rebellion gone wrong that is ‘othered’ by society (Trencansky, S., 2001: 68-70)

It should also be mentioned that her use of psychoanalysis itself holds some problems. In essentially trying to identify why it is that young white men are so invested in horror, Clover runs the risk of reducing her audience to a set of more or less fixed characteristics that further homogenizes her study (Tudor, A., 1997: 445). Instead of situation horror in a variety of different fields, and especially by little attention the socio-political climates and context of the period in which these films were made, Clover places a heavy influence on the inner workings of gender and spectatorship whilst largely ignoring any external factors that arguably have just as much impact(Tudor, A., 1997: 452). In the same vein that Clover critiques film theorists through imposing essentialist binaries on horror cinema, Clover runs the risk of reducing a very heterogeneous group to largely homogeneous characteristics. What then becomes interesting is the ways in horror and cinema spectatorship play out when one is to consider not only psychosocial factors that influence the genre and those who watch it, but the socio-political contexts they were made in as well.

As it stands, Clover’s seminal study of gender in horror movie stands as one of the most influential and cited works of the study of horror and spectatorship. Though not without its faults, the book is still able to convincingly argue the interplay and intersections of gender in horror and the broader implications it has on cinema spectatorship. Far from just another critique of horror gratuity, Clover’s book presents itself as an essential read for anyone even vaguely interested by the genre and especially those who study it.

 References:

Clover, C., 1992. Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. United States of America: Princeton University Press.

Trencansky, S. 2001. Final Girls and Terrible Youth: Transgression in 1980s Slasher Horror. Journal of Popular Film and Television. 29(2): 63-73

Tudor, A. 1997. WHY HORROR? THE PECULIAR PLEASURES OF A POPULAR GENRE.

Cultural Studies

. 11(3): 443-463

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Flash Fiction: A Conversation Between Mother Nature and God

“I can’t do this anymore,” she says after as a tear runs down her cheek.

“But, my Child, things can change. I promise,” he replies to her as he stares straight at the revolver she has aimed at him.

“See, the thing is you’ve been telling me this for years. Time and time again you promise change and yet time and time again you and your Creation continue to screw me over. This is the last time you all abuse me and my resources. This is the only way,” she says, her sadness slowly turning into anger as all the things they have done to her floods her memory.

She was right. They have been doing this tango for what seems to be all their lives. Since he gave birth to her on the First Day, he has done nothing but bring pain and destruction to her. Every time he promises change, his Creation continues to use and her abuse her. She has had enough. And what did he expect to happen, really?

“My Children, they do not know what they’re doing. Please, we have loved each other for eons. You don’t have to do this. You’ve been my greatest creation and nothing they can do will ever change that,” he pleas to her, trying to appease her better judgement. After all, none of this was his fault. His children are rebelling, using her for everything she has and leaving nothing but destruction behind them.

“It does not matter how you sprinkle it! You cannot tell me that even after all they’ve used of me to create what they have now that they don’t know what they’re doing! All your Creations do is use, use, and use! Something has got to give! It’s either me or them,” she says sternly as her revolver moves from him towards her. She’s serious this time and he knows it.

“But, my child, they were created in my image. I cannot abandon them now when they need me the most. Either way, like a phoenix, you will rise again. But what of them? If you do this and create the next Great Destruction they will not survive. In fact, nothing will survive if you are gone. We need you,” he says as his pleas become more desperate. He has been able to control her her entire life but now his grip is slipping. He’s losing her and he can feel it.

“No, you need me! But what you don’t know is that I no longer need you. I’m dying, Father and it is your fault. If you had never created them, all of this could have been averted. It’s their fault that we’re in this position and you know it. I can’t handle it anymore,” she says almost hysterically. “For millennia now, Man has done nothing but deplete me. All I do is give and all Man does it take. And for the first time we both know that you can do nothing about this. I can’t do this anymore!”

“Please, my child, don’t do this! They can change. I can change! Things can change! Give us a chance and put the gun down, please,” he says but his pleas are falling on deaf ears this time.

“I’m sorry, Father, it’s too late,” she says as she tears flood her eyes. A storm brews inside her and her body begins to quake. Her finger reaches the trigger and before he can do anything about it, she pulls it.

Bang! The Mother is dead. And so is everything he Created.

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Inxeba and the Relevance of Queer Theory in the Global South

Theory is one of the most fundamental ways in which one can understand the natural and social lives. When used correctly, theory can help one ground their realities in epistemological frameworks and help them better understand social and natural phenomena in the world. Though because of its innate subjectivity and its difficulty in using concrete readable facts, theory within the humanities and social sciences presents itself with a challenge as there can be a bevy of different ways in which one can look at a single social phenomenon such as identity or ideology. Nevertheless, theory and theoretical frameworks do much to help one understand the many ways in which the world works and be conceived as and is arguably one of the key ways in which to ground the kind of critical thinking required by these kinds of academics – and even can even be directly applied in practical real life situations. One such theory is Queer Theory. Put broadly, queer theory is one of the instrumental ways in which the social sciences have understand identity, and particularly the multiplicity of identities and the ways in which these multiplicities can be used as a tool of subversion and disruption of particular assumed normativities. This essay will be delving into theory and in particular queer theory to highlight the ways in which queer theory can be used to understand identity and its various (and sometimes non-normative) multiplicities and will be arguing the ways in which, though originating largely in the global North, queer theory and its theorisations can be applied in the global South and in particular South Africa.

Theory

To begin, let there be a brief summation of what theory is and its relevance and importance in not only research projects but in practical applications as well. It should be noted that describing theory and what it means in particular in an abstract or practical sense is difficult because of its many conceptions (Wacker, J., 1998: 361). Further, theory and conceptions of theory have been critiqued by some for being a limited in its usefulness and applicability in the real world with some going on to argue that one does not need to apply theory in order to enact real world changes (Wacker, J., 1998: 362). Though these criticisms cannot be discounted, it should be noted that criticisms of theory fail to note that it is not necessarily a concrete requirement for theory to be wholly applicable to real world situations in order to be a ‘good’ theory or to be worthwhile, as some contend that theory is largely abstract (Wacker, J., 1998: 362). What theory becomes undoubtedly useful for is, firstly, it provides a sort of framework in which analysis can be applied (Wacker, J., 1998: 362). Secondly, theory becomes useful in the improvement and furthering of problem-solving and research understanding because as theory develops, it improves upon and strengthens (or critiques) past theories in which these theories find their basis on (Wacker, J., 1998: 362). Lastly, theory is important because contrary to some beliefs, it has a degree of applicability in real world situations and is not merely a tool for abstract thought (this is particularly true for the natural and physical sciences) (Wacker, J., 1998: 363).

In general, many academics do agree that theory usually contains four different components for it to be considered a ‘good’ theory: “(1) definitions of the terms or variables, (2) a domain where the theory applies, (3) a set of relationships of variables, and (4) specific predictions (factual claims)” (Wacker, J., 1998: 363). Theory provides an important framework in which working definitions and conceptions of things are able to be used and applied to explain the whys and hows the ways in which particular relationships between things are logically tied together within particular domains (Wacker, J., 1998: 364). Succinctly, the goals of a good theory and its usefulness is to describe and explain how certain related events are tied to each other and why these related events lead to particular outcomes or circumstances, ultimately answering the “how, when (or where), and why” (Wacker, J., 1998: 364).

Further, in particular relation to research development, theory provides a useful tool to “provide a framework for analysis, provide an efficient method for field development, and provide clear explanations for the pragmatic world” where both are tied in a dialectical relationship wherein “theory generates research, and research generates and refines theory” (Udo-Akang, D., 2012: 89). In relation to that, Udo-Akang (2012: 90) argues, much like the previous paragraph, that a good theory provides the basis in which particular phenomena can be effectively explained and described, but that has clear boundaries in what it’s trying to describe (cannot be too loose, for example), and ultimately should form the basis in which further theories and researches can be conducted and further developed. In such, theory becomes a useful construct that can be applied to real world situations as its aim to explain phenomena and interrelated events help one understand the multitude of ways in which the world theoretically works whilst also forming some sort of basis in which predictability and further practicality can be developed from the theory, removing theory from its abstract conceptions into a way in which theory can further be used in practice (Udo-Akang, D., 2012: 93).

Queer Theory in the North

Queer Theory is quite the complex concept. On its basis, the term itself is quite the contested and debated term. In its earlier forms, queer was used as a derogatory word particularly directed at the LGBT community to refer to them explicitly as perverse and abnormal (bodies: 76). However, the term has been reclaimed by the LGBT activists in the United States (and consequently a large part of the LGBT community as a whole) as a form empowerment used to dismantle notions of the queer that directly relate it to perversion – particularly sexual perversion (Milani, T., 2014: 76). Though important, it should be noted that queer has also come to represent not only an identity (as in the LGBT community), but also “a political and existential stance, an ideological commitment, a decision to live outside some social norm or other” and – in the sense of queer theory – also to modification of theory (Greteman, A., 2014: 420). This has explicitly been born out of a postmodern and poststructuralist framework that is less concerned with providing a clear access of succession and prediction, and more towards a critique and deconstruction of prevailing systems of order and social phenomena which explicitly critiques normative assertions of gender, sexuality and sex as well as the naturalized understanding that concrete identities necessarily originate from those assertions (Milani, T., 2014: 76). As these assertions have been explicitly linked towards heteronormative understandings of identity and ideology (Milani, T., 2014: 76), queer theory’s disruptions has helped not so much in the normalisation of gender and sexual “deviances” in society (as it implicitly moves away from normativity and naturalization), but more so has helped in the reorientation of some institutions in the acceptance and empowerment of queer individuals in productive ways that has helped (some) queer-identified people’s lives become somewhat more bearable and survivable (Greteman, A., 2014: 419).

Further, it is worth noting that queer theory came as a somewhat indirect critique of purveying notions held in LGBT studies. Within the realm of LGBT studies, though well meaning, came efforts to normalise LGBT identities. However, far from contributing to the overall real betterment of LGBT individuals, LGBT studies fell more on a naturalization of queer identity that held a particular investment in essentialist and homogenous notions of the queer experience, implicitly grounding it in the normative sense that proved to be more of an extension of heteronormativity (such as the legalisation of gay marriages and adoption that link much more to a linear identification of the modern nuclear family) (Rothman, J., 2012: 43-45). Due to queer theory’s firm basis in notions of postmodernity that directly go against essentialism and determinism, queer theory was seen as a direct critique of the normative essentialism of LGBT studies (based in notions of modernism) that seemed to group all queer-identified people as one homogenous lump (Carlson, D., 2014: 96).

Instead, queer theory rose as a somewhat political movement that “wanted to disrupt (but not necessarily eradicate) existing categories of sex, gender and sexuality, but rather sought to ‘dramatize incoherencies’ in essentialism and so-called undetermined monolithic empirical justifications of natural and stable binary categories associated with sex, gender and sexual desire” (Rothman, J., 2012: 49).  Queer theory in this sense seeks to disrupt and ‘denaturalise’ the static, essentialist notions of sex, sexuality and gender that has been so easily homogenized by LGBT studies as it posits that queers people are united by some sort of uniform identity that normalizes identity to fit into a heteronormative society (i.e. queer identity is disruptive) (Rothman, J., 2012: 49). Though this has been contested by some academics by ascribing to an individualization of identity so heralded Western capitalism that fragments the queer community instead of bringing them together to fight in the battle for queer emancipation (Carlson, D., 2014: 98-99), what these critics fail to recognize that queer theory does not call for fragmentation in the queer community, but for the heterogeneous understanding of queer identity that directly seeks to disrupt heteronormativity specifically to call true queer emancipation that goes far beyond the call for basic civil rights that LGBT studies so vehemently calls for (Rothman, J., 2012: 50).

It is this disruptiveness found in queer theory that make it particularly important for postmodern understandings of the multiplicity of identities in relation to gender, sex and sexuality exactly through the critique of the sort of binary positions that essentialize queer identity and the queer experience (Williams, C., 2018: 2). In this sense, queer theory thus ultimately seeks to “subvert, titillate, deconstruct, and queer things,” transforming it from not merely a critique of LGBT studies or even that of simply sexual identities, but also to incorporate exactly those identities that assume a non-normative, disruptive quality ultimately for the goal of not simply “survival” but for these identities to exist in spaces where they thrive (Greteman, A., 2014: 420-421). In such, then, queer theory “disentangles the normative cultural enmeshment of biological sex (male/female) and gender (masculinity/femininity) that has been used to justify the ‘natural’ status of heterosexuality and the gender binary while legitimizing the concomitant gender oppression and [queerphobia]” (Milani, T., 2014: 76; emphasis added). That is in itself is transgressive, disruptive and non-normative (or ‘abnormal’), flipping traditional assertions of queerness that characterize it as exactly like that (in the negative), and transforming and reclaiming all that is queer in order for the real emancipation for all identities that do not ascribe to traditional normative assertions of heterosexuality and gender binaries.

Queer Theory in the South

However, queer theory has not been without its critiques – particularly related to the global South. Most glaringly, given that queer theory has originated from the West and stemming from white, middle-class, homosexual men, queer theory has been critiqued for not being as inclusive as it claims to be with many calling it out for its lack of intersectionality that excludes people of colour (Milani, T., 2014: 77). This becomes especially clear due to the fact that proponents of queer theory largely fit into that category whilst (perhaps unintentionally) marginalizing the works of queer theorists who do not ascribe to that identity – particularly queer theorists of colour (Milani, T., 2014: 77). In such, queer theory merely serves to reproduce the sort of racism that runs rampant amongst white LGBT people, whilst making inferences of experiences of queer people of colour, producing a certain racial homogeneity that queer theory so vehemently criticizes (Milani, T., 2014: 77). Ultimately, this exclusion of racial intersectionality with both sexuality and gender has resulted in many Western scholars ignoring the multiplicity that brings queer identity as well as the works of their queer people of colour counterparts and even more so queer scholars of the global South (Milani, T., 2014: 77).

Though those critiques are not without validity, queer theory still has much to offer the global South. One major reason for this is that queer theory has allowed for the analysis and critique of gender and sexuality that is explicitly removed from the highly sexualized nature of other theories that allows for the analysis of ‘queer’ identities of those who do not explicitly identify as part of the LGBT community, but whose non-normativity still result in the systematic and covert discrimination and oppressions these individuals still might encounter (Milani, T., 2014: 77). In such, queer theory has helped in the disruption of the ‘respectable gay’ found in countries where queer people do afford some constitutional rights such as South Africa where the ‘respectable gay’ refers to the cisgendered white gay who has ‘come out’ and ascribes to traditionally heteronormative values such as ascribing to the neoliberal nuclear family in a monogamous relationship who frequents Pride and benefits most from the neoliberal queer rights while also providing a voice to queer people who do not ascribe to respectability politics and fit into a distinctly non-normative ‘Other’ identity (Milani, T., 2014: 77).

Another critique worth mentioning is that queer theory is not relatable to non-Western queer people who do not necessarily know what queer or queer theory means (Milani, T., 2014: 77-78). Once again to use South Africa, queer people who represent the majority of queer people (and particular non-normative queer black people) are not as aware of the meanings attached to queerness and queer identity, much rather preferring to recognize themselves and relate to the Zulu word for queer: isitabane (Milani, T., 2014: 77). Here, the English word ‘queer,’ becomes relatable more towards whiteness and Westernization and less so blackness and the global South resulting in certain lack of reflexivity characterised by queer theory (Milani, T., 2014: 78). Further, like queer, isitabane has historically been used as a derogatory term against queer people but has been re-appropriated by black South Africans to refer to a proud marker of queer identity and in a sense, at least to black South Africans, is a greater marker of queer identity because it transcends mere characterizations of gayness but also non-normative gender identities (as isitabane direct translated means hermaphrodite/intersex), semantically blurring both the hetero/homosexual and male/female dichotomies and uniquely bringing them into one (Milani, T., 2014: 78). Thus, a re-appropriation of isitabane in the veil of queerness provide a much more identifiable, relatable form of radical decolonial disruption “that queries northern identities and ideological formations through the lens of (South) African experiences [that] resits settling on definitive answers, instead unveiling the uncomfortable ambiguities, complicities and ruptures that ensues from the intersections of race and non-normative genders and sexual subjectivities in (South) African contexts,” a clear marker of queer theory in practice (Milani, T., 2014: 78).

As such, as in both instances of intersectionality of race and class to gender and sexuality and re-appropriation, the adoption and re-evolution of queer theory in the global South becomes a distinct marker of decoloniality (Coly, A., 2016: 394). This is particularly important given the history of queerness in Africa. In the context of post-colonial Africa, queerness has been labelled by much of Africa as distinctly “un-African” and a Western construct brought in through colonization (Rothman, J., 2012: 52). This is particularly interesting because, upon colonization, it was exactly the colonizers and Christian missionaries whose labels placed upon markers of homophobia onto Africa, where African cultures distinct homophobia can arguably directly attributed to Western intervention (Rothman, J., 2012: 52). Here, because of Western intervention Africa became a marker of abnormality, passivity, sodomy and perversity that is in need of Western intervention to ‘correct’ it and bring it towards modernity – an interesting relation to queer people and the heterosexualisation of queer bodies (Kapoor, I., 2015: 1612). Queer theory, apart from its applications towards identity, becomes a useful decolonial tool precisely because its tendency towards subversion and non-normativity that attempts to “resist and destabilize domination and the power of status quo… [that] questions normalising power mechanisms and social order, while upholding a deviant, non-conformist and non-assimilation politics” (Kapoor, I., 2015: 1612). Thus, through the adoption of queer theory and re-appropriating it to fit into the African and global South contexts, queer theory could arguably help Africa with emancipating its people (be they queer-identified or not) and resisting neo-liberalism and neo-colonisation that continue to subjugate it and paint it as perverse, unhistorical, backwards and transgressive. Is this not a distinct marker of multiplicity and decolonisation?

Inxeba

One of the ways in which one can see the application of queer theory in South Africa in action in media texts is the movie Inxeba – and particularly in the characters of Kwanda and Xolani. In the movie we have representation of the Xhosa initiation ceremony in which ‘boys’ are taken to the mountain to become ‘men.’ What is interesting (and equally controversial) about this film is its centring of its storyline on two queer men: Xolani and Kwanda. Here, I say queer because in the film neither of their sexualities are explicitly mentioned but their actions are remarkably queer in nature. In the film, Xolani is Kwanda’s (an initiate), mentor during the duration of the ceremony and both queer the film but in two distinctly different ways. In relation to Xolani, he is having an illicit affair with one of the other mentors that happens once a year through the duration of the ceremony. What’s interesting here, though not explicit, Xolani (and his lover) represent a large portion of queer South African men who do not fit into the ‘respectable gay’ politics of liberal South Africa and do not explicitly identify as gay (or queer, for that matter). Though it can be argued that both men are “finding themselves” in the film (an argument perhaps strengthened towards the film’s end in which they share an extremely intimate moment), it can also be argued that these men represent the non-normative Other in South African society. Though on the surface they may appear as particularly masculinized cis-heterosexual men, the fact that they come together every year for that moment (in secret) is a covert form of queering their identity and the adoption of a hidden non-normative queer identity as discussed above.

Kwanda on the other hand, is much more explicitly disruptive than Xolani. As mentioned, Kwanda’s sexuality is not explicitly mentioned but his actions are notably queer. Here Kwanda comes from Johannesburg and is decidedly more liberal than Xolani (though he does not ascribe to the ‘respectable gay’ either) and is much more outwardly effeminate. Because of this, Kwanda is a target for discriminatory behaviour by the other boys (and men) who repeatedly bully him for his assumed effeminate behaviour. But in an action that is wonderfully queer (and an effect of queer theory in action) is how, regardless of what is happening, Kwanda continues to disrupt heterosexual normativity. Despite his queerness (and perhaps because of it), Kwanda participates in all the things these other ‘men-to-be’ participate in without much fuss. However, when faced with aversion, Kwanda subverts and disrupts normativity by refusing to speak out to the elder men in the group in one scene, and in another he calls out the other initiates on their extreme misogyny and heterosexism. Unlike Xolani, Kwanda’s actions are decidedly more overtly queer and arguably very disruptive, especially considering the space he is in.

Conclusion

Thus, though it may have its faults, queer theory not only shows how theory can be applicable in action and the real world, but highlight the importance it has in the global South as well. Much more than its Western ideals, queer theory can be applied in more than one way in the global South. Not only is it able to provide insights in non-normative identities in South Africa, it can also be used as a term of re-appropriation (as in the intersectional re-appropriation of isitabane), as well as used as an analytical and radically political tool to queer Africa and help in its true emancipation. ”References:

Carlson, D. 2014. Postqueer? Examining Tensions Between LGBT Studies and Queer Theory: A Review of LBGT Studies and Queer Theory. Journal of LGBT Youth. 11(1): 95-100

Coly, A. 2016. Carmen Goes Postcolonial, Carmen Goes Queer: Thinking the Postcolonial as Queer. Culture, Theory and Critique. 57(3): 391-407,

Greteman, A. 2014. Dissenting with queer theory: reading Rancière queerly. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. 35(3): 419-432

Kapoor, I. 2015. The queer Third World. Third World Quarterly. 36(9): 1611-1628

Milani, T. 2014. Querying the queer from Africa: Precarious bodies – precarious gender. Agenda. 28(4):75-85

Rothmann, J. 2012. Sociology as bridge over troubled waters: establishing a link between the principles of lesbian and gay studies and queer theory. South African Review of Sociology. 43(1):41-61

Udo-Akang, D 2012. Theoretical constructs, concepts, and applications. American International Journal of Contemporary Research. 2(9): 89-97.

Wacker, J. 1998. A definition of theory: research guidelines for different theory-building research methods in operations management. Journal of Operations Management. 16: 361-385

Williams, C. 2018. Feminism Is Queer: The Intimate Connection Between Queer and Feminist Theory. Journal of Homosexuality”

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“Sis, We All Know Why You Don’t Care for It”: The Perpetuation of Covert Homophobia and Heteronormativity in the Digital Age

Society has had a long history of homophobia. Often citing religious texts for the reason for their bigotry, people have frequently listed homosexuality as being abnormal and inherently deviant to the morals of society. In fact, it was only in 1973 that the American Psychological Association removed homosexuality from their list of mental illnesses and only this year has India decriminalized homosexuality. In many developing countries, homosexuality is still considered a criminal act in over 70 countries around the world with some even condemning it by death. However, it should be said that in many liberal countries like South Africa, The United Kingdom and The U.S. have made many strides in the normalization of homosexuality and advances in LGBT rights have been considerable in the past 30 or so years. In many of these countries it has now become a societal taboo to be outwardly homophobic, with many of these countries condemning homophobia as hate crime and a human rights violation. Yet still, homophobia continues to consist in society and exists in many forms such as verbal and sometimes physical abuse as well as through structural and systemic discrimination. Deeply entrenched in the very fabric of society, this post seeks to analyse the ways in which covert homophobia still persists in contemporary liberal societies and the ways in which these forms of homophobia represent the broader structural issues of cis-heterosexism that continues to characterize the world we live in despite the commendable efforts to live in a post-homophobic world.

Homophobia is arguably the result of repressive structures imposed by heterosexism and patriarchy. In a study conducted by Neil Henderson, he looks at how heteronormativity in “traditional” African communities reinforce homophobic behaviour and ideologies. Henderson (2015: 109) argues that in societies characterised by heteronormative ideals brought on by a patriarchal system that see heterosexuality as the norm perpetuate homophobia as being inherently deviant and abnormal. He goes on to argue that this sort of hetero-morality is often held up through religion, culture, and education systems with homophobic language being the key perpetrator in the perpetuation on discrimination based on non-heteronormative identities (Henderson, N., 2015: 109). In his analysis of coming out stories by gay men in Cape Town, Henderson notes that in the cases where these men presented more traditionally feminine traits faced the largest brunt of homophobia by their families and their communities as they were more likely to uphold heterosexuality and traditional gender roles as the norm, and thus condemning those who stray from these ideal, suggesting that there is a causal link between homophobia, heterosexism and traditional patriarchy (Henderson, N., 2015: 111-112).

This seems to be strengthened by Thabo Msibi’s study of the experiences of queer youth in township areas in South Africa. In many township schools, Msibi (2012: 518) notes that teachers are often not only inhibitors of homophobia complicit in their silence, but also perpetuate it themselves through repressive structures that aim to hinder and deviate from the perceived cis-heterosexual norm and thus enforce heteronormativity resulting in the lives of many queer black youth remaining bleak in the face of hegemonic masculinities. This, Msibi (2012: 520) argues that this could be because of the rampant poverty experienced by these communities largely due to the legacy Apartheid which caused heterosexual men to aggressively assert their masculinity, condemning all who deviate from it. Thus, in terms of sexual identities (particularly homosexuality), in societies highly characterized by hetero-centricity and heterosexism, the dominant discourses and cultural practices in these societies almost explicitly promote heterosexuality and traditional gender roles as being compulsory, marginalizing those identities who do not conform to this narrative into highly repressive and discriminatory structures (Msibi, T., 2012: 521).

These repressive structures brought on by heteronormativity still persists in contemporary liberal societies in various ways disguised as covert homophobia which suggest that there is still some level of societal acceptance of certain forms of homophobia. Much like “colour-blind” racism that seeks to reflect a post-racial society, homophobia has been rearticulated in more covert forms as a new form of homophobia disguised in the language of liberalism (Teal, J., Conover-William, M., 2016: 14). Much like covert racism, covert homophobia in liberal societies “fail to dismantle any of the heteronormative structures that privilege heterosexuality and oppress members of queer communities despite what appears to be advances in LGB equality” (Teal, J., Conover-William, M., 2016: 14). This is done in many ways but for the sake of this post we will focus on the “born this way” essentialism and the “some of my friends are gay…” rhetoric, both which present covert homophobia that is perpetuated by so called allies of the LGBT community. 

The most apparent of these is the “some of my friends are gay…” rhetoric. Much like the “I have black friends” rhetoric, this positions heterosexuals as not possibly being homophobic because they choose to associate with queer people (Teal, J., Conover-William, M., 2016: 19). This, Teal and Conover-William (2016: 19) argue is a form of ally entitlement where heterosexual identities claim ally status through the association with the queer communities which remains inherently problematic because claiming ally status with the intent of protect yourself against being homophobic does little to eradicate established heterosexist power relations. Furthermore, because the “but some of my friends are gay” rhetoric is often preluded by homophobic comments or slurs (such as calling someone the f-word as an insult), these so-called allies proclaim this ally status to neutralize the effect of their comment which “maintains heterosexism by assuming this neutralization is valid, and sufficient for using anti-queer sentiments,” almost directly implying queer identities should be grateful for their “acceptance” (Teal, J., Conover-William, M., 2016: 19).

Another more controversial form of covert homophobia lies in the “born this way” essentialism. Put briefly, this rhetoric relies on the dichotomy between the discourses on whether you are born queer or is it a choice. Many queer allies, and even queer individuals themselves, argue that people are born queer and that it is not a choice (Teal, J., Conover-William, M., 2016: 16). This sort of essentialism is used to justify that homosexuality is normal and presents queer people with the struggle of having to constantly have to prove something that is simply not possible (Teal, J., Conover-William, M., 2016: 16). Because of this impossibility, many homophobes use this doubt to justify their bigotry arguing that if it can be proven without a doubt that homosexuality is inborn, that they will perhaps change their positions on homosexuality (Teal, J., Conover-William, M., 2016: 16). As daunting as this may be, this has a second layer to it because by essentializing sexuality as being inborn, many people ignore the social construction of sexuality. In doing so, queer allies (and some queer individuals) use essentialism to argue that homosexuality simply could not be a choice any sane individual would make. Thus, allies make use of covert homophobia to invalidate the possibility that queerness could be an actual, valid choice to make and by “simplifying sexuality into genetic versus choice argument ignores that sexuality is a social construction and devalues queer sexualities by framing them as inherently bad or negative” (Teal, J., Conover-William, M., 2016: 17).

One key example of cover homophobia in action is Kim Kardashian’s brief ‘beef’ with model Tyson Beckford. Herein, Tyson Beckford made a comment on a popular Instagram page The Shade Room where he said he did not like Kim’s body, calling her apparent surgery as being a botched job. Shortly after, Kim took to Instagram to defend her body by shaming a sexuality he does not even identify with, boldly stating “sis we all know why you don't care for it” (EOnline, 2018). This is very problematic for a number of ways. Most notably, Kim centres her rebuttal solely on the fact that the only possible reason he doesn’t like her body is because he must be gay. Furthermore, by framing her rebuttal with the gendered noun “sis,” Kim is acting in a way that reinforces heteronormative ideals of what a straight man should be, attempting to shame his sexuality and his masculinity by reducing it to the “diminutive” femininity. Unsurprisingly enough, Kim defended her comments by saying “for anyone to say that I am homophobic for the comment of saying 'sis' like, I'm sorry, I'm the least...all my best friends are gay, I support the community, I love the community, they love me” (EOnline, 2018). This echoes the “but my friends are gay…” ally entitlement that Kim uses to justify her covertly homophobic remarks. Kim thinks that just because she is an “ally” who “loves and supports” the community, that she immediate gets a backstage pass to using any homophobic sentiment that she pleases. Kim is entitled. Kim is homophobic. Kim is reinforcing heteronormativity. Kim is far from being the ally she so boldly claims to be.  

From the above discussions it can clearly be seen that homophobia is alive and well. By people positioning themselves as liberal who do not care if you “gay, straight, black, white or blue,” liberal allies act in ways that reenforce their heteronormativity onto a community desperate to be accepted, and disguise their homophobia by common sentiments such as jokes or essentialism. By the mere fact that a celebrity as prominent as Kim Kardashian can use covertly homophobic sentiments and leave from it virtually unscathed, this shows that society, though hiding under the veil of liberal ideals, is still unashamedly homophobic. Until this is addressed, repercussions are felt, and healthy discussions are had about contemporary forms of homophobia, covert homophobia will continue to repress the lives of queer individuals even in the most progressive societies.

References:

Cohen, J. 2018. Kim defends dissing Tyson Beckford over body shaming comments. Accessed on 10 September 2018 from the World Wide Web: https://www.eonline.com/au/news/959088/kim-kardashian-defends-dissing-tyson-beckford-over-body-shaming-comments

 Henderson, N. 2015. The persistence of homophobic discourses: Narratives of a group of gay men in Cape Town, South Africa, Agenda, 29:1

 Msibi, T. 2012. ‘I'm used to it now’: experiences of homophobia among queer youth in South African township schools, Gender and Education, 24:5

 Teal, J. & Conover-Williams, M. 2016. Homophobia without homophobes: Deconstructing the public discourses of 21st century queer sexualities in the United States. Humboldt Journal of Social Relations. 38.

[edgeofisolation]

“Fake News!” and the Re-establishment of Right-Wing Hegemony in the U.S.

In 2016 ‘post-truth’ became Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year. Loosely relating to the concept of personal beliefs being more important in shaping opinion than objective truths (whatever that may be), the word has become intrinsically linked with the idea of fake news. Though hardly an entirely new concept, fake news quickly became the buzz word of 2016, particularly in the wake of the 2016 U.S. elections. During this monumentally disastrous election period there seemed to be an influx of less than true articles floating across the internet that seemed to carry their own distinctly political or economic agenda. This was not seen clearer than in the case of then soon-to-be president elect Donald Trump who seemed to yell “Fake News!” at mainstream media outlets every other day, predominantly through his highly publicized Twitter account. This post attempts to map out the concepts centred around fake news within the political arena and the reason(s) for the perpetuation of fake news in the digital age using the 2016 U.S. elections as example of one of the more malevolent reasons for this, namely as a means of re-establishing hegemony.

Broadly speaking, fake news pertains to the idea of news which is made up and is manipulated to resemble that of credible journalistic articles for the sole intention of deceiving its readers (Brennen, B., 2017: 180). As noted, fake news has always existed, but with the advent of social media (and the resulting ‘sponsorship’ of social networking sites and Google gained through popularity) fake news has become increasingly easier to distribute across a wide audience that are willing not only to share, but to distribute this false news (harkening to the idea of post-truth) (Brennen, B., 2017: 180). Though it’s important to distinguish between misinformation (whose intentions aren't inherently meant to deceive you), fake news is characterized by its distinctly deceptive nature whose intention is to deceive its viewers through means such as withholding certain information, distorting information, or deflecting information (Brennen, B., 2017: 180).

This poses a serious threat to democracy as deception affects the distribution of power in society where power is given to those who deceive and take away the power of the people being deceived through altering their choices (Brennen, B., 2017: 180). Furthermore, deception may then lead the loss in the confidence of the best alternative option through the manipulation of opinion, gaining an unjust power over those who are being deceived (Brennen, B., 2017: 180). This disinformation and deceptive tactics perpetuated by fake news is used to manipulate the online publics sphere through the capitalization of the growing mistrust in communities about the reliability mainstream media outlets (Morgan, S., 2018: 39). Thus, when the credibility of established mainstream news outlets come into question, this leads the public to become more likely to fall for fake news as they struggle to identify between factual news and fabricated news, resulting in the potential for the factors in contributing to the “potentially fertile ground for those wishing to manipulate opinion in a particular direction” (Morgan, S., 2018: 39; emphasis added).

Naturally, this has resulted in a moral panic in society. Moral panics can be defined as public anxiety to a perceived social threat that may result in declining societal standards (Carlson, M., 2018: 2). In the case of fake news, this anxiety is not necessarily directed at a particular group of people, but rather towards the increasing transformation of informational spaces made possible through the advent of new media which seem to echo “broader concerns surrounding the eroding boundaries of traditional journalistic channels, the extension of mediated voices, and the growing role of social media in news distribution” (Carlson, M., 2018: 2). This sort of informational moral panic also leads to anxieties felt by professional journalists surrounding their usurpation by new media and more importantly, their growing concerns of the constant need to draw attention in their articles in order to generate a larger profit revenue in an increasingly ad-based digital environment (Carlson, M., 2018: 2).

This sort of profitability of digital advertisements is one of the most salient reasons for the prevalence of fake news. As the generation of actual profit requires there to be a relatively large volume of people to view the article, fake news has become almost reliant on the popularity of click-baiting which are purposely designed to attract a large volume of ‘clicks’ to an article (Carlson, M., 2018: 11). And, as mentioned, because media in capitalist societies rely on popularity to generate profit through advertisements, fake news in turn emulates the worst characteristics of this model (Carlson, M., 2018: 11). The more viral an article is, the more likely it is to be shared which in turn increases traffic towards the site and consequently generates a higher profit revenue for both the creator, and online platforms such as Google and Facebook which ultimately takes attention away from traditional media and increases the likelihood of this fake news to be mistaken as being credible, factual news (Carlson, M., 2018: 11).

However, though important, this is not the object of my argument as my argument centres around the (re)establishment of hegemony through fake news. According to Farkas and Schous (2018: 306), Donald Trump had not been in office for one day when he began to accuse fake news with trying to delegitimise his presidency. Largely through his Twitter account, Trump used the social media platform to discredit and delegitimise those whom he saw as his direct opponents and the proponents of this “fake news,” mainly mainstream media. Throwing the term around like it was going out of fashion, Trump began lashing out at mainstream media outlets who reported against the actual fake news purported by right-wing media sites and by Trump himself, and in turn, this resulted in Trump actively re-establishing “and re-hegemonize the term by situating it in a fundamentally opposing discourse, linking fake news to intimately to mainstream media platforms” (Farkas, J., Schou, J., 2018: 306). Within this discourse, fake news is situated as distinctly democratic problem perpetuated by mainstream media with the sole intent of promoting biased “liberal agendas” as opposed to representing “the people” reinforcing right-wing hegemonic ideologies that mainstream media is “corrupt, liberally biased, systematic liars, and in need of replacement” (Farkas, J., Schou, J., 2018: 307). Fake news then became a key signifier in an existing discourse where right-wing media and Trump explicitly equates the term to mainstream media whose deceptive propaganda is in direct violation for everything America is “supposed” to stand for (which I personally find quite ironic) (Farkas, J., Schou, J., 2018: 307). What is then witnessed here is the systematic re-hegomizing discourses around fake news by the right wing to delegitimize and dismantle critical journalism: “[fake news] becomes the focal point of a major political battleground in which the American right-wing struggles with mainstream media, liberals and anti-capitalists to fixate meaning, obtain hegemony and impose their worldview onto the social” (Farkas, J., Schou, J., 2018: 307).

Thus, it can be seen that much beyond the contemporary understandings of fake news as simply being motivated by the capitalistic need for profit, fake news can be much more malevolent in its political motivations. By misconstruing and resituating fake news as being a tool used by mainstream media as a tool of delegitimising a political party and a whole presidency, the right-wing threatens the very democracy of a country that its lauded for its purported liberal ideals. In turn America becomes stripped from its title as the land of the free, and instead becomes a term more akin to the land of right-wing manipulation in re-establishing a hegemony that goes directly against its very constitution.

References:

Bonnie Brennen (2017) Making Sense of Lies, Deceptive Propaganda, and Fake News, Journal of Media Ethics, 32:3

 Carlson, M .2018. Fake news as an informational moral panic: the symbolic deviancy of social media during the 2016 US presidential election, Information, Communication & Society

 Farkas, J. & Schou, J. 2018. Fake News as a Floating Signifier: Hegemony, Antagonism and the Politics of Falsehood, Javnost - The Public, 25:3

 Morgan, S. 2018. Fake news, disinformation, manipulation and online tactics to undermine democracy, Journal of Cyber Policy, 3:1

[edgeofisolation]

Beyond Narcissism: Are Selfies Simply the Ultimate Form Self-Expression of the Digital Age?

Oh, selfies! I don’t think anyone living in the information age can confidently say that they have never taken a selfie before or at the very least participated in selfie culture in some form or another (here’s looking at you, gran). Undoubtedly, selfies have become one of the most defining aspects of the digital era, gaining unprecedented popularity primarily through social networking sites like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. No longer are photos of oneself taken for their own private viewing pleasures, but are now regularly disseminated to the public, and often times created for the public. Cynics have quickly reduced selfies and selfie culture as yet another extension human narcissism, but arguably selfies have become one of the greatest tools in the digital age used for self-expression and for the construction (and reconstruction) of self-identity. But is there even more towards selfie culture than meets the eye? This post seeks to take critical lens to various discourses centring around selfie culture and attempts to argue the deeper connotations and resulting ramifications this global trend has on oneself and the broader society.

To begin, let us briefly look at the concept of digital identity. Put simply, digital identities can be described as online social identities that arise from the creation of online profiles that are often used as a means self representation within a distinct social context (Bozkurt, A., 2016: 157). With the advent of social networking sites, these online spaces have become a space wherein users are presented with unrivalled control on the ways in which they are represented, and are often granted the ability to switch between identities, create new identities, or simply solidify established identities, something virtually unheard of to the common person prior to the digital age (Bozkurt, A., 2016: 156). Because of this, some argue that digital spaces have created a unique space which grant users the freedom “display idealized characteristics that do not reflect their actual personalities,” something closer akin Carl Roger’s conception of the ideal self versus the real self (Bozkurt, A., 2016: 157). Thus, in essence, online spaces have allowed users to enact a digital identity that allows them to be whomever they want to be in these digital environments, regardless of how true this identity may be to their ‘real’ identities.

Selfies are one of the principle ways in which these digital identities are reinforced. Quite succinctly Cardirci and Gungor (2016: 2) argue that selfies are “basically an embodiment the self and serve as an extension of our physical body [which] extend the self-image to a hybrid form (actual and ideal)” that serves as visual communication of one’s identity. These visual portraits are taken not as a form of remembering a particular event (or rather not entirely), but rather as a documentation of ourselves for the purpose of consumption by others: they serve as visual expression of where one is, what one is doing, and who does one think they is which allows one to explore different facets of one’s self-identity (Cardirci, T.O., Gungor, A.S., 2016: 3). Much like digital identities, selfies allow us to create highly stylized and controlled versions of our identities that present us in the most flattering light possible. This provides us with the ability to alter our identities at will, showing others what we want them to see and positioning us in a way that we think is most palatable to our ‘viewing audience,’ often resulting in performative identities that reflect our ideal selves more than our real selves (Cardirci, T.O., Gungor, A.S., 2016: 8). Nevertheless, selfies present us with the unprecedented opportunity to construct our own identities and mould them in ways in which we see fit which is why it is often regarded as the one of the ultimate forms self-expression in the digital age (Cardirci, T.O., Gungor, A.S., 2016: 12).

However, selfies (and more so selfie culture) has not come with its own critiques, particularly around this performative nature of selfies and their ‘inherent’ narcissism. Because of the sort of hypervisibility that selfie culture has brought about, people are constantly connected and are constantly participating in a never ending stream of digital information of which people are in a constant state of performance (Proulx, M., 2016: 115). Here, performance of identity is constantly regulated and monitored by others through the system of likes, comments, followers and retweets which come to themselves define the validity of the identities being performed (Proulx, M., 2016: 115). This then means that self-presentation becomes governed by these protocols which constantly serve to suggest in order for your identity to be validated and accepted, you have to look and present yourself in a certain way which may indirectly lead us to performing stylized ideals of our identities (Proulx, M., 2016: 115). Far from a tool of self-empowerment as earlier suggested, critics of selfie culture argue that it simply employs “a shallow rhetoric of empowerment and self-serving individualism” with some going a far to argue that selfie culture is merely an extension of contemporary narcissism in which this perceived obsession with oneself and one’s image seem to optimize the neoliberalist ideologies embedded into society (Proulx, M., 2016: 117). Identity expression through selfies here, is thus merely a construction and performance of an identity that serves only to show one in the most desirable light palatable to a broader audience for the sake of validation and at time, even reverence (Proulx, M., 2016: 117).

Interestingly enough, this lends to the notion of the selfie being more than classically seen. Maybe the selfie needs to be seen as more than just an identity, be it performative or empowering, and should be looked at in the broader context of society because any way you look at it, selfies and selfie culture do have political, cultural and ideological significance. Beyond the narcissism, selfies need to be looked at as wider social, cultural and media phenomenon which is itself highly contextually specific, multifaceted, with its own set of underlying ideologies which greatly reflect the hidden (and sometimes apparent) ideologies embedded into society: “people act in the way they have learned to act in accord with the dominant discourse” (Cruz, E.G., Thornham, H., 2015: 3, 7). Broadly, what is meant by this is that the way in which you take your selfies and the selfies in which you choose to present to the world says a lot not only about your identity, but the society in which it is contextually positioned in and often reflects these dominant discourses prevalent in that society (Cruz, E.G., Thornham, H., 2015: 8). Furthermore, not only are selfies laden with its own set of ideologies, the ways in which it is received and dissected by the audience also says a lot about the society in which it is contextually positioned in, often reproducing the dominant discourses of that particular society (Cruz, E.G., Thornham, H., 2015: 8).

Take for instance this selfie of Tumi Seeco and his group of friends. This photo, which has since amassed over 1000 likes on Instagram, presents the pinnacle of the idealized and highly sexualized representation of black men in contemporary South Africa: conventionally attractive, muscular, middle-to-upper class, and (perhaps most importantly) light skin. In fact, his entire Instagram feed, seem represent a performative identity that is highly representative of South Africa’s highly materialistic neoliberalist society and its embedded ideals centred around what is considered to be attractive, normalized and even aspirational. Perhaps unwittingly, Tumi and his friends represent what it means to be a desirable male in contemporary South Africa, a feat that can be attested by the sheer popularity of his Instagram page and can be seen as a key example of the power of the ideologies behind selfie culture that positions representation as more than a tool self-expression.

Thus, though there is no question that there is merit to the argument that selfies present a unique tool for identity creation and exploration in the digital age that is in itself arguably self-empowering, it cannot be ignored that there is more to the selfie than what meets the eye. Behind every carefully calculated duck face lies the hidden ideologies embedded in the image. Selfies are more than just an extension (or recreation) of identity, but are themselves a social phenomenon that more often than not echo the pervading context-specific discourses centred around society.

 References:

Bozkurt, A. & Tu, C. 2016. Digital identity formation: socially

being real and present on digital networks. Educational Media International. 53:3.

Çadırcı, T.O., & Güngör, A.S. 2016. Love my selfie: selfies in managing impressions on social networks. Journal of Marketing Communications.

 Cruz, E.G. & Thornham, H. 2015. Selfies beyond selfrepresentation:

the (theoretical) f(r)ictions of a practice. Journal of Aesthetics & Culture. 7:1.

Proulx, M. 2016. Protocol and Performativity. Performance Research. 21:5.