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Subject Disintegration: Identity And Alterity In The Age Of The Hyperreal, Sophie Ell

American Studies ETDs

What do the signs “identity” and “alterity” point to within the economy of representation and the logic of simulation that govern the present era? How does the visual saturation of a screen-mediated life affect the study of identity? Where does the information overload within which we operate leave the production of knowledge about otherness? My goal in this project is not to resolve these questions, but rather to linger in them. Focusing on various portrayals of categorical identities in film, photography, and digital media, I utilize a semiotic analysis to examine the formulaic, repetitive maneuvers of signification practices that reproduce …