Post-colonialism - bonus reading and tasks

Post-colonialism - bonus reading and tasks

MM58: Social Media and Black Identity

1)

• Aisha Harris - believes that social media has made black people subject to 'memeification.' This entails that they are shown as always performing or entertaining, helping reinforce the dominant attitudes and satisfy what is a 'deep-rooted desire' within society
• Anthony Giddens - social media can act as a tool that actually uplifts and inspires black people in a way that mass media simply doesn't
• Henry Jenkins - believes that social media is an 'arena wherein participatory cultures' can be established.' This ranges all the way from actual political activist groups, with a key example being '#BlackLivesMatter,' to even socially-constructed communities such as 'Black Twitter.' In communities like this, the voicing of perspectives that would usually go unheard from get a platform to thrive on, working to challenge some of the negative representations that exist of black people in mass media

2) 

I feel that social media hasn't had an outright positive or negative effect in terms of black identity. It has definitely had its pluses in helping construct positive identities of black people whether it be through the celebratory hashtags of 'The Blackout' campaign or expression of marginalised voices through 'Black Twitter.' However it has also without a doubt helped reinforce them too, with 'Digital Blackface' coming to mind here. Non-black people often tend to utilise the anonymity that comes with social media and use it in a way that they can parade as being black, simultaneously degrading black identity as this is done e.g. @ItsLaQueeta.

3)

Alvarado's theory can be applied to identities of black people on social media as online, they often tend to be portrayed as belonging in one of the four themes. Pitied, in the sense that they are often seen dwelling in the 'ghettos' of society, humorous for the uploads of a more light-hearted nature they're in, dangerous for fights that are posted on websites like WORLDSTARHIPHOP and exotic with the amount of black musicians there happens to be. Fanon's theory also fits in here as what tends to happen on social media is that black stereotypes decivilise the community, often making each individual fit into some archetype of a sort e.g. 'gangsta.'

A Hustle for Life: Refugees in the Media

1)

One of the representations we see of refugees in the article is that they are travelling by choice as evidenced by the word 'migrant.' Rather than portray them as 'fleeing a genuine disaster,' they're shown as doing it on their own accord. Representations range from this to the more dehumanising, with Katie Hopkin's 'cockroaches' and 'feral' comments being testament to this. This isn't helped by the imagery of the actual refugees themselves, with it giving the out the perception of a 'swarm, horde or tide, marauding and invading their way across the world.'

2)

I personally feel that the documentary genre can have an equal amount of bias as that of the news media, although it can be the case that they offer less of it. 'Exodus' is representative of this, with it for example letting us into the actual perspectives of the refugees themselves through them being handed smartphones to film their experiences on. 'The Refugee Camp: Our Desert Home' also manages to show that this bias is lessened in documentaries as what we see in this are refugees that are attempting to return to their country when it's safe. This goes against this whole convention of 'migrants' fleeing their country to come into Europe.

3)

Edward Said's theory can be used here in that refugees in news media tend to be represented as being both dangerous and uncivilised. We see this through things like Katie Hopkin's description of them as 'feral,' but also images of them with the 'swarm, horde, or tide' they move around in to get from place to place. Alvarado's could also be applied to in the sense that refugees receive a sense of pity with the situation they've been placed in and to some extent, this goes hand-in-hand with Fanon's theory with them being infantilized and depicted as 'needing to be looked after.'