Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Critical and Cultural Studies Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Selected Works

PDF

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication

Articles 1 - 30 of 375

Full-Text Articles in Critical and Cultural Studies

I’M Afraid Of That Water: A Collaborative Ethnography Of A West Virginia Water Crisis, Luke E. Lassiter, Brian A. Hoey, Elizabeth Campbell Mar 2020

I’M Afraid Of That Water: A Collaborative Ethnography Of A West Virginia Water Crisis, Luke E. Lassiter, Brian A. Hoey, Elizabeth Campbell

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

On January 9, 2014, residents across Charleston, West Virginia, awoke to an unusual licorice smell in the air and a similar taste in the public drinking water. That evening residents were informed the tap water in tens of thousands of homes, hundreds of businesses, and dozens of schools and hospitals—the water made available to as many as 300,000 citizens in a nine-county region—had been contaminated with a chemical used for cleaning crushed coal. This book tells a particular set of stories about that chemical spill and its aftermath, an unfolding water crisis that would lead to months, even years, of …

Go to article

The Alt-Right's Use Of President Donald Trump's Twitter Account As A Propaganda Device, Erin Nicole Jorden Sep 2019

The Alt-Right's Use Of President Donald Trump's Twitter Account As A Propaganda Device, Erin Nicole Jorden

Erin Jorden

The long campaign to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act situated President Donald J. Trump in a context where attacks on President Barack Obama’s signature legislation symbolized a broader repudiation of his legacy. Even more than mainstream Republican partisans, the altright blogosphere celebrated the demise of the law to symbolically cleanse the nation of Obama’s influence. Trump attempted to honor his pledge to end Obamacare in his first year of office with his support of the American Health Care Act (March 2017), Better Care Reconciliation Act (July 2017), and the Graham-Cassidy Bill (September 2017). Members of the alt-right reframed …

Go to article

Sex Sells: How Advertising Agencies' Commodification Of Image Affects Older Women In Advertising, Diane Fittipaldi May 2019

Sex Sells: How Advertising Agencies' Commodification Of Image Affects Older Women In Advertising, Diane Fittipaldi

Diane Fittipaldi

The purpose of this study was to understand how advertising agency culture affects the long-term careers of women account executives as they age. The primary research questions were: 1) How do self-image and cultural stereotypes affect the decision to enter the advertising business; 2) How do women navigate the male-dominated culture of the ad agency; 3) What strategies do women use to get ahead in advertising; 4) How do women survive long term in a culture that favors youth? Qualitative data was collected via unstructured, one-on-one, in-depth interviews with a nationally sourced sample 15 female advertising account executives aged 40 …

Go to article

Feed: State Transparency Amidst Informational Surplus, Mark Fenster Dec 2018

Feed: State Transparency Amidst Informational Surplus, Mark Fenster

Mark Fenster

An email arrives, promising inside information about the perfidious forces that secretly rule the nation. A Twitter feed from a prominent insider at an establishment think-tank announces the latest disclosure about the president’s secret role in the Russian conspiracy to manipulate the election that elevated him with the blast of toy cannon. Meanwhile, the President’s tweets serve to annoy, distract, humor, or comfort those who see them, and they above all announce some truth about his presidency. 

Debates about government transparency presume that the state controls an informational spigot, which can be made to allow information to flow or to …

Go to article

Making On The Margins: Why Do Resource-Constrained Users Practice Frugality And Openness During Grassroots Innovation?.Pdf, Prashant Rajan Dec 2018

Making On The Margins: Why Do Resource-Constrained Users Practice Frugality And Openness During Grassroots Innovation?.Pdf, Prashant Rajan

Prashant Rajan

Interventionist human–computer interaction for development (HCI4D) research universalizes diverse non-Western sites as marginalized contexts that justify researcher involvement yet function as barriers to methodology and praxis. In contrast, reflexive HCI scholarship decenters universalizing narratives of (good) design, (for) development, and (peripheral) innovation, by valorizing user practices in rural, low-income, low-text literacy settings. Reflexive HCI has demonstrated how innovators working with advanced technologies in elite non-Western spaces of privilege produced non-Western culture and innovation in ways that resist mainstream interpretations of innovation. This study extends reflexive HCI perspectives to critique HCI4D and study innovation in marginalized settings. Findings from multisited ethnographic …

Go to article

Making When Ends Don’T Meet: Articulation Work And Visibility Of Domestic Labor During Grassroots Innovation., Prashant Rajan Dec 2018

Making When Ends Don’T Meet: Articulation Work And Visibility Of Domestic Labor During Grassroots Innovation., Prashant Rajan

Prashant Rajan

Makerspaces, hackathons, and technology incubators are key emerging sites for technical communication practice and research. Yet, little is known about how resource-constrained, non-Western families practice DIY (Do It Yourself). Revisiting craft’s roots in families practicing artisanal trades, I find that the visibility of DIY innovation relies on the infrastructuring of family members who perform articulation work despite tremendous economic risk through traditional and transgressive family and gender roles and identities.

Go to article

Blue-Collar Work, Career, And Success: Occupational Narratives Of Sisu, Kristen Lucas, Patrice M. Buzzanel Feb 2018

Blue-Collar Work, Career, And Success: Occupational Narratives Of Sisu, Kristen Lucas, Patrice M. Buzzanel

Kristen Lucas

This study examined underground iron ore miners’ occupational narratives to uncover how their stories socialize miners into blue-collar careers and reinforce their work identities. Through the root theme of sisu (Finnish for inner determination), underground miners create a status hierarchy that is used to construct a sense of pride around their work and to establish milestones of success for themselves and others in their workgroup. Furthermore, they communicatively construct exemplars that guide their performance and decisions during the unfolding of their work experiences. Their discourses provide alternatives to white-collar conceptualizations and practices of careers and success.

Go to article

Algorithmic Legal Reasoning As Racializing Assemblage, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Ama Nyame-Mensah, Allison R. Russell Dec 2017

Algorithmic Legal Reasoning As Racializing Assemblage, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Ama Nyame-Mensah, Allison R. Russell

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

This paper critically examines the use of predictive analytics in U.S. criminal justice policy and practice, with a particular focus on the ways in which these technological practices are reproducing and reinforcing structural relations of difference. Adopting a new materialist lens, which posits algorithms as more-than-human ontologies, the paper explores the process by which algorithms become racializing assemblages through their encounters with administrative data generated at various stages of criminal justice, and guided by choices made by decision makers and researchers. It addresses the following questions: In what ways do the algorithms become part of a larger sociotechnical apparatus of …

Go to article

Laws Of Image: Privacy And Publicity In America, Samantha Barbas Nov 2017

Laws Of Image: Privacy And Publicity In America, Samantha Barbas

Samantha Barbas

Americans have long been obsessed with their images—their looks, public personas, and the impressions they make. This preoccupation has left its mark on the law. The twentieth century saw the creation of laws that protect your right to control your public image, to defend your image, and to feel good about your image and public presentation of self. These include the legal actions against invasion of privacy, libel, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. With these laws came the phenomenon of "personal image litigation"—individuals suing to vindicate their image rights. Laws of Image tells the story of how Americans came …

Go to article

Enhancing The Epistemological Project In The Rhetoric Of Science: Information Infrastructure As Tool For Identifying Epistemological Commitments In Scientific And Technical Communities., Nathan Johnson Nov 2017

Enhancing The Epistemological Project In The Rhetoric Of Science: Information Infrastructure As Tool For Identifying Epistemological Commitments In Scientific And Technical Communities., Nathan Johnson

Nathan R. Johnson

Enhancing the Epistemological Project in the Rhetoric of Science: Information Infrastructure as Tool for Identifying Epistemological Commitments in Scientific and Technical Communities. Article discusses how the STS concept of infrastructural provides a mesolayer approach to understand global issues in science with rhetorical methodology.

Go to article

Information Infrastructure As Rhetoric: Tools For Analysis, Nathan R. Johnson Nov 2017

Information Infrastructure As Rhetoric: Tools For Analysis, Nathan R. Johnson

Nathan R. Johnson

No abstract provided.

Go to article

A Brief History Of Fake News, Amy Fry Mar 2017

A Brief History Of Fake News, Amy Fry

Amy Fry

Many have argued that the 2016 Presidential election was influenced by an unprecedented upsurge in “fake news,” facilitated by evolving technology and relationships with social media. Where did this subgenre of media come from, how is it promoted and consumed, and what role does it currently play in popular culture? How do “information bubbles” form and how do they influence information-sharing and beliefs? What role do institutions, from libraries to the mainstream media, play in the social life of misinformation in popular culture? In an effort to answer some of these questions, this paper will present an overview of the …

Go to article

The Computational Turn In Education Research: Critical And Creative Perspectives On The Digital Data Deluge, Elizabeth De Freitas, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román Dec 2016

The Computational Turn In Education Research: Critical And Creative Perspectives On The Digital Data Deluge, Elizabeth De Freitas, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

In his exceptional survey of current big data methods in the social sciences, Kitchin (2014) describes the current state of affairs as a “data deluge”. Indeed, the diluvian metaphors of flood and deluge abound in our current computational culture, as we surf the dynamic surface of a seemingly inhuman quantity of data. Kitchin (2014) emphasizes the challenges and opportunities for researchers in the social sciences as they delve into this deluge. In the digital datafication of life and learning, the impact on education can already be felt, but has yet to be adequately theorized; there is a growing need for …

Go to article

Regenerative Capacities: New Materialisms, Inheritance, And Biopolitical Technologies In Education Policy, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román Dec 2016

Regenerative Capacities: New Materialisms, Inheritance, And Biopolitical Technologies In Education Policy, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

Inheritance and social reproduction have been widely theorized and studied concepts in the social sciences. What is assumed in theories of social reproduction is a focus on social position and identity; a focus on moving from one position to another at the cost of overlooking the rich and arguably more important movement, process, and flow in between. Turning toward new materialisms for theoretical insight, this article points toward an alternative post-humanist perspective. Leaning on Massumi (2002) and Puar (2007), the author asserts that expanding the analytical focus to include the movement and process of biopolitical capacity will further sharpen the …

Go to article

Horstman, Anderson, And Kuehl Doulas Health Communication 2017.Pdf, Haley Kranstuber Horstman, Jenn Anderson, Rebecca A. Kuehl Dec 2016

Horstman, Anderson, And Kuehl Doulas Health Communication 2017.Pdf, Haley Kranstuber Horstman, Jenn Anderson, Rebecca A. Kuehl

Rebecca A. Kuehl

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Selective Amnesia And Racial Transcendence In News Coverage Of President Obama’S Inauguration, Casey R. Kelly, Kristen Hoerl Apr 2016

Selective Amnesia And Racial Transcendence In News Coverage Of President Obama’S Inauguration, Casey R. Kelly, Kristen Hoerl

Casey R. Kelly

The mainstream press frequently characterized the election of President Barack Obama the first African American US President as the realization of Martin Luther King's dream, thus crafting a postracial narrative of national transcendence. I argue that this routine characterization of Obama's election functions as a site for the production of selective amnesia, a form of remembrance that routinely negates and silences those who would contest hegemonic narratives of national progress and unity.

Go to article

Habermas In The African E-Village: Deliberative Practices Of Diasporan Nigerians On The Internet, Farooq A. Kperogi Jan 2016

Habermas In The African E-Village: Deliberative Practices Of Diasporan Nigerians On The Internet, Farooq A. Kperogi

Farooq A. Kperogi

This chapter examines a many-to-many, collaborative, transnational, diasporic sphere of public discourse called the Nigerian Village Square, which over the years has functioned as an arena for the vigorous exchange of ideas among Nigerians both at home and in the diaspora and as a veritable locus for the initiation of online petition drives to change or influence state policies in the homeland. It is the reinvention, in an electronic form, of the deliberative content of the “village square” in the pre-colonial African social formation where “people from all corners [met] at the Village Square after a hard day's work to …

Go to article

Algo-Ritmo: More-Than-Human Performative Acts And The Racializing Assemblages Of Algorithmic Architectures, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román Dec 2015

Algo-Ritmo: More-Than-Human Performative Acts And The Racializing Assemblages Of Algorithmic Architectures, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

What happens when more-than-human digital acts tell us something about ourselves? This article examines the ways in which the algorithms of data analytics function in relation to other ontologies and assemblages and how they are shaping and forming our lives. Beginning by critically questioning the ontology of data, data are argued to be an assemblage that is materially and discursively produced from a multiplicity of apparatuses including sociopolitical relations of power and “difference.” The concept of algo-ritmo—that is, the repetition of data with alterity—is introduced as a way of understanding how the performative acts of the “soft(ware) thinking” of algorithms …

Go to article

Diffractive Possibilities: Cultural Studies And Quantification, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román Dec 2015

Diffractive Possibilities: Cultural Studies And Quantification, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

The belief in the methods of quantification has not been widely shared in cultural studies. On the one hand, the dominant orientation of quantitative social science research continues to hold on to positivist assumptions of objectivity and the privileged access to the “truths” of natural phenomena via the logics of mathematics. On the other hand, cultural studies has maintained a hermeneutics of suspicion toward the methods of quantification. But, to what extent does this suspicion toward quantitative inquiry compromise the deconstructive project of cultural studies by falling into the trap of the quantitative/qualitative and, related, nature/culture binaries? Building on new …

Go to article

Alternative Ontologies Of Number: Rethinking The Quantitative In Computational Culture, Elizabeth De Freitas, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Patti Lather Dec 2015

Alternative Ontologies Of Number: Rethinking The Quantitative In Computational Culture, Elizabeth De Freitas, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Patti Lather

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

Introduction to special issue.

Go to article

Diffracting Enfolding Futures: Critical Inquiry In Quantitative Educational Research, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román Dec 2015

Diffracting Enfolding Futures: Critical Inquiry In Quantitative Educational Research, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

This article demonstrates an alternative ontological and epistemological approach to critical
inquiry with quantitative methods. By building on new materialists thought, the critical
possibilities of quantification are reconsidered via a diffractive methodology. By diffractively
reading through multiple sources of data the article demonstrates how to critically analyze the
multiplicity of “difference” in parenting practices. The diffracted results point toward the ways
in which parenting practices are a result of myriad forces that cannot be reduced to pathology or
deficiency but rather convey the inheritance of constraining and disenabling sociocultural and
historical conditions. Concluding remarks suggests the quantitative turn for critical …

Go to article

The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche & The Network-Centric Condition Dec 2015

The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche & The Network-Centric Condition

Dan Mellamphy

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Analyzing Interpersonal Metafunction Through Mood And Modality In Kaine Agary’S Yellow-Yellow From Critical Discourse And Womanist Perspective, Léonard A. Koussouhon, Ashani M. Dossoumou Dec 2015

Analyzing Interpersonal Metafunction Through Mood And Modality In Kaine Agary’S Yellow-Yellow From Critical Discourse And Womanist Perspective, Léonard A. Koussouhon, Ashani M. Dossoumou

Bahram Kazemian

The aim of this paper is to analyze mood, epistemic and deontic modality patterns in an extract culled from Yellow-Yellow (2006) by one of the Nigerian new millennium female writer, Kaine Agary. The findings data revealed by the interpersonal meaning analysis are discussed against the backdrop of critical discourse analysis and womanist theory. The discussion contended that, despite the blend of monologic and dialogic organization of the novel, Kaine Agary has tried to portray the sociological schisms making up the daily life of young girls in the oil-resourced region of Nigeria. More importantly, the authoress has shown women’s determination and …

Go to article

“Get Rich Or Die Buying:” The Travails Of The Working-Class Auction Bidder, Mark A. Rademacher Dec 2015

“Get Rich Or Die Buying:” The Travails Of The Working-Class Auction Bidder, Mark A. Rademacher

Mark A. Rademacher

A critique of the popular reality television show, Storage Wars.

Go to article

“I’M Here To Do Business. I’M Not Here To Play Games.” Work, Consumption, And Masculinity In Storage Wars, Mark A. Rademacher, Casey R. Kelly Dec 2015

“I’M Here To Do Business. I’M Not Here To Play Games.” Work, Consumption, And Masculinity In Storage Wars, Mark A. Rademacher, Casey R. Kelly

Mark A. Rademacher

This essay examines the first season of Storage Wars and suggests the program helps mediate the putative crisis in American masculinity by suggesting that traditional male skills are still essential where knowledge supplants manual labor. We read representations of “men at work” in traditionally “feminine” consumer markets, as a form of masculine recuperation situated within the culture of White male injury. Specifically, Storage Wars appropriates omnivorous consumption, thrift, and collaboration to fit within the masculine repertoire of self-reliance, individualism, and competition. Thus, the program adapts hegemonic masculinity by showcasing male auction bidders adeptly performing feminine consumer practices. Whether the feminine …

Go to article

His Final Homily: Pope John Paul Ii's Death As An Affirmation Of His Life's Message, Joesph M. Valenzano Nov 2015

His Final Homily: Pope John Paul Ii's Death As An Affirmation Of His Life's Message, Joesph M. Valenzano

Joseph M. Valenzano III

Every Sunday morning, a member of the Roman Catholic clergy addresses his flock after a reading from one of the Gospels. These homilies ordinarily last between 10 and 20 minutes and allow the priest an opportunity to interpret the Gospel message from that day's reading, as well as discuss how that message relates to contemporary events and issues. During the final two months of his life, Pope John Paul II provided a longer, more powerful symbolic homily to the world. The message summarized his positions on freedom, suffering, and the dignity of human life.

Go to article

The Right Of Free Movement: A Story Of Securitisation And Control In The Uk Or The Story Of Ion Popescu, Konstanitinos Mitropoulos Sep 2015

The Right Of Free Movement: A Story Of Securitisation And Control In The Uk Or The Story Of Ion Popescu, Konstanitinos Mitropoulos

Bahram Kazemian

Recently in Britain there has been an on-going discussion on the right of European citizens to move to, work and reside freely in any European Union member-state. British politicians and media, stepping on the significant number of Eastern Europeans who moved to the United Kingdom, articulated a securitising discourse representing them as ‘benefit tourists’ and criminals who threaten the integrity of the welfare system and social cohesion. However, this is only part of the securitisation story. This paper argues that the securitisation of mobile European citizens and, consequently of the right of free movement itself, is used as governmentality in …

Go to article

Queering Kinship In ‘The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers', Jeana Jorgensen Aug 2015

Queering Kinship In ‘The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers', Jeana Jorgensen

Jeana Jorgensen

The fairy tales in the Kinder- und Hausmiirchen, or Children's and Household Tales, compiled by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are among the world's most popular, yet they have also provoked discussion and debate regarding their authenticity, violent imagery, and restrictive gender roles. In this chapter I interpret the three versions published by the Grimm brothers of ATU 451, "The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers," focusing on constructions of family, femininity, and identity. I utilize the folkloristic methodology of allomotific analysis, integrating feminist and queer theories of kinship and gender roles. I follow Pauline Greenhill by taking a queer view of …

Go to article

Molding Messages: Analyzing The Reworking Of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ In Grimm’S Fairy Tale Classics And Dollhouse, Jeana Jorgensen, Brittany Warman Aug 2015

Molding Messages: Analyzing The Reworking Of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ In Grimm’S Fairy Tale Classics And Dollhouse, Jeana Jorgensen, Brittany Warman

Jeana Jorgensen

The story of “Sleeping Beauty” (ATU 410) is one of the most consistently captivating fairy tales. It tells of a cursed princess dreaming in a tower, waiting patiently for her prince to rescue her. Those who recreate the tale for contemporary audiences spin the story anew, reconstructing again and again what it means both to sleep and to awaken. This chapter analyzes two modern television versions of the tale, one for children and one for adults, comparing their incorporation of feminist messages and parallel ideas about shaping narratives and shaping lives. The children’s cartoon Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics (also called …

Go to article

Superman Needs You, Kirby Farrell Aug 2015

Superman Needs You, Kirby Farrell

kirby farrell

A powerful leader in politics, business, or closer to home has “magnetism.” But leaders depend on followers, who follow because it’s rewarding. Consider the attention commanded by Donald Trump or even Adolf Hitler. Lives depend on it. Both figures use scripts centered on elimination of scapegoats as a technique of converting flight to fight emergency physiology in followers. Close attention can demytify euphemized homicidal ideation.

Go to article

Next Last