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- Volume 7, Issue 2, 2016
Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture - Volume 7, Issue 2, 2016
Volume 7, Issue 2, 2016
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From victims to perpetrators: Cultural representations of the link between the Holocaust and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
More LessAbstractThis article proposes a reading of films and literary works of Jewish–Israeli directors and writers that represent a link between the Holocaust and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Based on LaCapra’s ‘acting out’ and Hirsch’s ‘postmemory’ it examines the way artists reflect the complex political blend of the Holocaust and the Israeli– Palestinian conflict. The article shows that, alongside a right-wing narrative that represents the Arabs as the Nazis’ successors, Hebrew literature and cinema, especially in the last decade, reflect mainly the opinions of the left and extreme left wing in Israel, who do not accept this equation, but create what can be called a ‘counteracting-out’ – a reversed equation in which the resemblance between the Holocaust and the Nakbah and/or Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and Nazis is represented. The fact that the politicization of the Holocaust is tossed from one political side to the other reflects the confusion and ambivalence in Israel’s postmemory of the Holocaust, and indicates the struggle between different memory agents on the collective memory of the Holocaust.
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Representations of disability in Turkish television health shows: Neo-liberal articulations of family, religion and the medical approach
Authors: Dikmen Bezmez and Ergin BulutAbstractThis article investigates representations of disability in Turkish television shows on health in their relation to the hegemonic ideologies that shape and are reproduced by them. Three categories emerge: disability as a familial, religious and medical issue. Respectively, each category is moulded by and perpetuates a patriarchal motherhood discourse, an Islamic ethos, and a medical approach. These interrelate with the overarching disabling and neo-liberal ideologies and produce contradictory representations – e.g. disability is represented as curable, but also left to God’s will. This relates to the particularities of Turkey, defined by Islamic leanings towards disability, accompanied by neo-liberalism and cultural conservatism.
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‘I Have a Drone’: Internet memes and the politics of culture
By Kevin HowleyAbstractComparisons between slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr and US President Barack Obama are commonplace in news and political discourse. This article takes up this comparison by way of a critical analysis of an Internet meme that emerged at the time of Obama’s second inauguration. Specifically, it analyses the ‘I Have a Drone’ meme – an unusually provocative example of digital culture that calls out Barack Obama on his targeted killing programme – with an eye towards better understanding the role political memes play in the compression of complex ideas into smaller packets, and the implications thereof for public discourse and political engagement. This discussion is located in relation to contemporary theorizing on Internet memes, with an emphasis on the cultural politics enacted within and through this emergent form of participatory culture. Throughout, it is argued that the ‘I Have a Drone’ meme challenges the rhetorical equivalence between the two African American leaders, thereby registering and articulating popular opposition to Obama’s drone wars. Doing so, this article highlights the creative and incisive fashion in which activists, graphic artists and others appropriate, challenge and reconfigure news and political discourse in digital space.
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Facebook and political participation: Virtuous circle and participation intermediaries
More LessAbstractDrawing from the results of a mixed-methods cross-national study focusing on Italy and the United Kingdom, this article explores how the contribution of Facebook to citizens’ political participation varies in relation to pre-existing levels and different dimensions of political activity – namely, political expression and information vs political mobilization. The findings indicate that politically active individuals are the ones who take more advantage of the mobilization affordances of Facebook, whereas less politically active participants employ this social networking site mainly for political information. Activists consider Facebook as a key tool for the organization of political initiatives, enabling them to quickly communicate and coordinate, and to operate independently from traditional political institutions such as parties and trade unions. With regard to citizens who engage to a lesser degree in offline and online political activities, the informative power of Facebook and its ease of use come into play. Facebook can, in fact, lower the thresholds of participation by making it more flexible. In addition, political information can reach less engaged users through the activity of participation intermediaries, activating a virtuous circle and potentially producing, in the long run, a mobilization effect.
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ICT uses by 14–20-year-olds in India: Imperatives of parental intervention
By Rajesh KumarAbstractOver the past two decades both information and communication infrastructure and its user base have grown exponentially in India. However, where in quantitative terms the figures are significantly higher than in countries where Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are more developed and widespread, in terms of percentage, and in relation to the overall population, India has yet to reach a significant level of penetration of ICT usage. Where these technologies are enriching and convenient for a wide range of social interactions, they also bring a series of challenges, particularly for younger users. Cyberbullying, easier ways to be contacted by strangers, and easier access to porn and other age-inappropriate content are among the main potential dangers that they may face. Within this context, this article will discuss the role of parental mediation based on the findings of an exploratory study conducted in India. The research attempted to comprehend how technological changes are influencing children and their families, and what can be the role of parents in this process. Situating the study in the wider context of global parental mediation practices, the article attempts to explore current parental mediation practices in India, how the young react to these practices, and discusses effective parental mediation practices within the social and cultural context of India.
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The political economy of WikiLeaks: Transparency and accountability through digital and alternative media
Authors: Kathy Dobson and Jeremy HunsingerAbstractThe mainstream news media are expected to facilitate democracy by informing citizens, and holding corporations and governments accountable. This article demonstrates the uberization of the media through an analysis of WikiLeaks. Due to the complicity of the mainstream news media within the nation state – influenced by economic and political power relations – journalism becomes incapable of promoting this transparency and accountability, leaving those necessities to the public – and to alternative media platforms. Alternative media platforms such as WikiLeaks, which exist transnationally and are not beholden to one state, have the potential to fulfil journalism’s traditional role of transparency and accountability. We argue that the release of the ‘Collateral Murder’ video by WikiLeaks, and the surrounding events, is an example of how alternative media platforms uberify journalism through the dissemination of information, avoiding the barriers that limit mainstream news media and thus become journalism’s future. This draws into question the future development of journalism, in particular values and norms around accountability, transparency and bias, as digital leaking troubles relationships between journalism, various institutions and the public. As the ideologies of uberification continue to shape journalism, these values, norms and relationships of traditional journalism could be strengthened or may face new challenges and obstacles.
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