The limits of transactional identity: Whiteness and embodiment in digital facial replacement

2021 ◽  
pp. 135485652110278
Author(s):  
Drew Ayers
Keyword(s):  
Racial Difference ◽  
White Male ◽  
Masculine Identity ◽  
Exchange Value ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Safe Approach

Focusing on a series of YouTube creators, this essay interrogates the persistence of the hegemonic power of the white male hardbody, arguing that digital facial replacements – in particular those of 1980s action stars – produce a mode of white, masculine identity that is essentially exchangeable and transactional. These bodies are capitalist commodities, fundamentally interchangable and asserting the same bundle of ideological traits. The technology of digital facial replacement allows creators to visualize this exchange value. As opposed to the pornographic, invasive, and misogynistic face swap videos originally posted on reddit.com by user ‘deepfakes’ in 2017, the facial replacement videos found on YouTube are more playful in nature, imagining alternate histories and using face swapping as a mode of comedy. This case study of 1980s action stars opens up to a broader examination of issues of identity in digital facial replacement. In the videos under analysis, gender swaps are relatively common, but ethnic swaps are scarce. The reluctance of the YouTubers to ‘blindcast’ their revisionist videos reveals a subtle critique of the fantasy of a post-racial world. Racial difference – and, perhaps, cultural specificity – remains intact, and the creators take a seemingly apolitical, comical, ‘safe’ approach to identity rather than an explicitly critical stance. By denuding the more threatening and destructive aspects of deepfakes, these YouTube videos produce a more palatable version of facial replacement. This version, however, is no less ideologically complex than its more explicitly political and misogynistic counterparts. These contemporary facial substitutions not only continue to ‘reboot’ white male hegemony, but they also function as an ideological reclamation of masculine power in the present through modified images of the (revisionist) past.

A First-Time Leader in the Time of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
pp. 409-422
Author(s):  
Joshua Mims
Keyword(s):  
Historically Black ◽  
White Male ◽  
Academic Program ◽  
Black College ◽  
First Year ◽  
Historically Black College ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The World ◽  
First Time

In this case study, a faculty member at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) shares their story of working as a white male in an all-Black college from first hire, to leaving, to returning in order to lead their former academic program. During their first year of leadership the author faced personal tragedy, professional promotion, strained relationships with colleagues, and finally, a global pandemic that changed the world. For those interested in the experiences of a first-time leader, this is a unique case study.

The iemoto System and the Avant-Gardes in the Japanese Artistic Field: Bourdieu's Field Theory in Comparative Perspective

2006 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-302
Author(s):  
Masaaki Morishita
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
Nineteenth Century France

The conceptual framework of ‘field’ proposed by Pierre Bourdieu and his model of the literary and artistic fields in nineteenth-century France are widely applied to studies of the development of the literary and artistic fields in other regions and the fields of other cultural practices. These researches, while showing similarities to Bourdieu's model, reveal the distinct forms of nomos which those different fields developed through localised contingencies. In other words, their findings highlight the cultural specificity of the cases on which Bourdieu's field theory is based. The main purpose of this paper is to argue that the field theory can be beneficially applied to cross-cultural cases provided that its culturally specific elements are clearly identified. For this purpose, I focus on one particular aspect associated with the nomos of Bourdieu's model – the orientation toward autonomy – to argue for its cultural specificity, which becomes clearer when it is compared to a distinct case of the artistic field in early-twentieth-century Japan. My case study shows that the Japanese artistic field did not develop the same form of autonomy as Bourdieu's model, but it also discloses the processes in which a certain form of nomos was shaped through the struggles between the artistic field and other fields.

Reverie through Ma Yansong's shanshui city to evoke and re-appropriate China's urban space

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 393-413
Author(s):  
Federica Mirra
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Open Door Policy ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Social Instability ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
Historical Specificity

Abstract Meandering rivers, elevated walkways and high-rise buildings revive traditional landscape paintings in an attempt to re-establish a connection between Chinese citizens and their urban space. Since the Open Door Policy in 1978 and the consequent period of reforms, introduced by Deng Xiaoping, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been focusing on the economic and urban development of the nation to affirm its modernization and global role. Particularly, since 2001, urbanization has been driven by economic and political goals that have overshadowed Chinese cultural and historical specificity and residents' needs. Cities and metropolises have become the symbol of the country's modernization and globalization, attracting foreign capital and visibility. At the same time, the frenetic and unprecedented scale of urbanization in Mainland China has caused the loss of historical and cultural areas, forced evictions, social instability and worsened pollution, among other issues. By presenting the case study of Beijing-based architect and artist, Ma Yansong, I will illustrate how tradition and culture could be reinvented and implemented in the contemporary urban realities. To do that, Chinese painter Xie He's treatise on the aesthetics of traditional landscape painting will provide with an original framework to understand Ma's urban concept of shanshui city. Aiming to re-connect everyday individuals with their urban space and cultural and historical background, this article responds to the urgency to envision future cities that are conceived by and for Chinese citizens and stem from China's ancient tradition and cultural specificity. Moreover, it intends to question the current urbanizing process and foster alternative urban imaginaries for future Chinese cities.

“Lord of a Hawaiian Island”

2012 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 396-427
Author(s):  
Nicholas L. Syrett
Keyword(s):  
Gay Men ◽  
White Male ◽  
Hawaiian Island ◽  
Innovative Strategies ◽  
Male Couple ◽  
Western Imperialism ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mary Louise Pratt ◽  
The 1960S

This case study of a white male couple (Robert and John Gregg Allerton) on Kaua‘i from the 1930s through the 1960s investigates how their colonization of the island has tended to be erased in accounts that highlight both the supposed acceptance of their homosexuality by the island’s residents and, in turn, the couple’s generous philanthropy. Set against this narrative of what Mary Louise Pratt has called “anti-conquest,” I demonstrate that the Allertons’ lives on Kaua‘i were actually more in keeping with the history of western imperialism than most accounts acknowledge, emphasizing also their own innovative strategies toward making the island their own. The article examines both the specifics of the Allertons’ colonizing of Kaua‘i and, more importantly, how imperialism can be misremembered when the colonizers were queer, connecting that narrative obfuscation to myths about acceptance of gay men in Hawai‘i that live on today.

Cross-Border Cooperation and Transformation of Regional Identities in the Ukrainian–Russian Borderlands: Towards a Euroregion “Slobozhanshchyna”? Part 2*

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 497-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Zhurzhenko
Keyword(s):  
Border Region ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Symbolic Resources ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Administrative Units ◽  
Cross Border Cooperation

Let us now have a closer look at the Kharkiv-Belgorod (potential) cross-border region as a case study of Ukrainian-Russian cross-border cooperation. Not only is the case of Kharkiv-Belgorod special because of the historical and cultural specificity of the region, which provides additional symbolic resources for its “reinvention” as a borderland (this will be discussed in the last section of the paper); it also represents an interesting combination of (remaining) cultural closeness and (growing) social and economic differences between the two bordering territories; significantly, these two administrative units became the initiators of the cross-border cooperation between Ukraine and Russia and see themselves as pioneers whose experience can be used for the other parts of the border.

scholarly journals Kinship terms as indicators of identity and social reality: A case study of Syrian Arabic and Hindi

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-146
Author(s):  
Neelakshi Suryanarayan ◽  
Amr Khalil
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Family Relations ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Cultural Methods ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
The Social

By displaying a certain fragment of reality in the linguistic consciousness of a person, socio-cognitive categories convey important information about the social structure of society, the lingua-cultural identity of its representatives and the values they share. This study focuses on kinship terms in the Syrian Arabic and Hindi languages. It is aimed at identifying similarity and the cultural specificity of kinship terms in two linguistic cultures and explaining the identified features through types of cultures and cultural values. The research is based on kinship terms that name consanguineal (blood) and affinal (non-blood) relatives in Arabic and Hindi. The material was collected through analysis of terms in dictionaries as well as anonymous questionnaires and observation. The collected material was systematized and analyzed using comparative, definitional, semantic and lingua-cultural methods. The results showed that both languages have a rich system of kinship terms, in which the line of kinship (paternal or maternal), the type of kinship (relatives by blood or through marriage), and age are recorded. They testify to the We-identity of the representatives of the cultures under consideration for whom family relations are of great value, and to the importance of determining the place of each member in society in the social system. The revealed features showed that age differences are more important in Indian society than in Syrian, although respect for elders is one of the most important values of both cultures. The results obtained once again confirm the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of language, which in turn provides new data for other areas of humanities.

Palmer Luckey and the rise of contemporary virtual reality

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1144-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Harley
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
White Male ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Consumer Interest

Despite a lack of consumer interest as recently as 2012, virtual reality (VR) technologies entered the mainstream in 2014 backed by multinational corporations, including Facebook and Google. At the heart of this transition is Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus and purported ‘face’ of VR. This article develops a case study centred on Palmer Luckey to examine the rise of contemporary VR within the overlapping, contemporaneous contexts of video game culture and the misogynistic gamergate movement. As gamergate expanded its scope with far-right political fervour, Luckey’s political ambitions also expanded in scope. I argue that Luckey’s promotion under the banner of ‘progress’ serves to reify White, male systems of power that are both established and contested within cultures of technological development.

Narratives About Autism: An Analysis of YouTube Videos by Individuals Who Self-Identify as Autistic

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 569-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Angulo-Jiménez ◽  
Laura DeThorne
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
American English ◽  
White Male ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Medical Model Of Disability ◽  
Mainstream American English ◽  
Model Features

Purpose The goal of this study was to expand the field's understanding of autism through the analysis of 1st-person perspectives from autistic video webloggers (vloggers). Method This study analyzed the representation of autism in 39 YouTube videos authored by self-identified autistic individuals and published between 2007 and 2015. Consistent with the cross-disciplinary tradition of narrative inquiry, thematic analyses of the video transcripts were conducted. Findings Vloggers were predominantly, but not exclusively, White male adults who spoke mainstream American English and self-identified as experiencing Asperger's syndrome. Key findings included (a) the predominance of a narrative about autism that incorporated features of both the medical model of disability and the neurodiversity paradigm to varying degrees, (b) a trend toward more medical model features across most content areas, and (c) a relatively high prevalence of neurodiversity paradigm features related specifically to language use and the description of autistic traits. Conclusions Implications include the need for clinicians to (a) familiarize themselves with the varying views of autism held within the autistic community, (b) reflect on the language used to talk about autism and listen to how clients and/or their caregivers talk about it, and (c) consider the exploration of potential positive dimensions of autistic traits.

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