If popular culture has taken up the cyborg as a figure of progress, what happens to the way race is represented? (This question can be applied to any form of pop culture).
Tim Jordan, 1999, ‘Cyberpower: the culture and politics of cyberspace and the Internet’, Booktopia, Routledge, London. Pp.2-31.
This article aims to define the nature of power in cyberspace, and thus helps us gain an understanding of the Internet and cyberspace from different perspectives. Jordan explains the three hierarchies of power that are wired into cyberspace, and how they affect the individual. The first is when cyberspace is seen as a “playground” to the individual, and how the individual then possesses cyberpower. The second explains that once the individual sees cyberspace as a popular, social environment, where communities form, cyberpower then becomes “technopower” which allows the individual to be liberated and gives the individual a sense of control, but can also cause information overload. Jordan uses the example of Kevin Mitnick, Bill Gates, and Linus Torvalds to express cyberpower in varying ways due to their potential of operating different technologies. Finally, the third power hierarchy is when the individual sees cyberspace as a community or a digital world, and then cyberpower becomes a familiar engagement between individuals.
I would use this article to begin my essay because it emphasizes the power of the Internet and cyberspace. Jordan portrays how once the individual has experienced cyberspace and gained cyberpower, there is a sense of belonging to a community and having a sense of control over technology. Therefore this will lure cyborgs in, and when race enters the equation, cyberpower may heighten or be largely problematic
Lisa Nakamura, 2002, ‘ Cybertypes: race, ethnicity, and identity on the Internet’, Routledge, New York, pp. 11-36.
The article, “Cyberspace” lures the audience in, and assures them that they will find an online utopia. Many people look for a certain online freedom, and seek this freedom in places such as chat rooms, where they may feel liberated from their bodies and “restrictive” factors such as race, gender and age. Nakamura claims, “The Internet is a place where race matters”. Although race itself may not be limited, or determinate, Nakamura argues that racial stereotypes, or in this case “cybertypes” are thrust into our online connections with others. The article explains how identity tourists can disguise themselves to be absolutely anything they desire, for example, an Asian Geisha or a Latino-lover, and by doing this, racial categories become almost non-existent, yet people surfing the net anonymously are presumed to be white. Nakamura focuses on what happened to race when it went on line, and how our concepts about race proceed to be created and recreated each time we go online. “Cybertypes” may also encourage us to think about, and view race and identity in the information age differently, as Nakamura looks at different aspects of our everyday online experiences.
I think this article would be useful when answering this essay question, because it discusses all the different aspects of how race is affected, and how it may become altered when it goes online. Nakamura looks at everyday online activities as simple as email jokes, and she portrays how the postmodern idea that we have of ourselves being anonymous online, is not inevitably freeing. I agree with Nakamura, as I strongly believe that the more race is eliminated online, the harder it is going to become for people of colour offline. Therefore, popular culture is taking up the cyborg as a figure of progress, as race is constantly being reshaped online.
Marc A. Smith & Peter Kollock (eds). 1999, ‘Communities in Cyberspace’. Google Books, Routledge, London, pp. 3-309.
This book illustrates the many different aspects Smith and Kollock have covered in order to examine the "legitimacy" of community in cyberspace and to find out how it operates. They conclude with the ideology that communities in cyberspace are real communities, and they investigate the often-unpredictable ways in which cybercommunities vary from their everyday, normal communities. Smith and Kollock also discuss probable issues of online identity in an environment where individuals cannot see each other. They question social order and control in this disordered environment, as well as the formation and power of online communities, and the cybercommunity as an infrastructure for joint action. Smith and Kollock introduce us to the argument that the screen does not remove the reflection of racial identity, and because interactions on the Internet are nonvisual, it gives people permission to judge or misjudge the races of others.
This book would be useful when answering this question because Smith and Kollock explain how when people are online, they are hidden, and therefore their race is hidden, and this allows people to misrepresent race in this nonvisual online world. Through the rapid rise of new technology and popular culture, the cyborg is, in my opinion, a figure of progress, as it is moving towards a destination further and further away from racial boundaries, a place where race is blurred or eliminated.
Sue J Kim, 2008, ‘Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet’, Reviews, Vol. 33, Iss. 4; pg. 2211, 4pgs, ProQuest.
Nakamura’s book, evaluates the possibilities and problems of racial developments as experienced on and around the Internet. Nakamura writes, “I see the internet as a privileged and extremely rich site for the creation and distribution of hegemonic and counterhegemonic visual images of racialized bodies”, and she therefore focuses on “digital racial formation”. Nakamura argues for the significance of “low-tech”, or “low-culture” technology that is user-friendly as it is encourages “identity formation by large numbers”, and this results in the formation of minority groups online, and it tells us more about the actual state of race and gender politics online. She investigates Allooksame.com, a site which proves that “race is virtually intelligible”, by testing viewers on their skill to perceive the race of others, yet the designer of the site refused to be identified. She looks at demographics and the digital divide that analyze Internet usage by race, and activism in cases of popular culture racism. On the whole, Nakamura’s intension is to begin a critical conversation about the experience of understanding race and gender on the Internet.
I thought this article was very interesting as Nakamura picks up on things as simple AMI, and other” low-tech” sites, which are easy to access and use, and therefore it is sites like these that attract cyborgs to join and spend more time on them. Then eventually, even though, their race may not be visible, they still manage to form minority groups through their use of the sites. This confirms that popular culture has influenced the cyborg, and affected the way race is represented when looking at a screen.
Jerry Kang, 2000, ‘Cyber-Race’ Harvard Law Review, Vol. 113, No. 5, pp.1130-1208. JSTOR.
In this article Kang concentrates on the “digital divide” as many worry that racial minorities “will be left behind in the technological backwater”. Minority access to computing communication and infrastructure is a serious issue, but Kang tends to focus on whether cyberspace can alter the very way that race constructs our everyday lives. Kang portrays how race still functions in American society through three anecdotes that he refers to as “racial mechanics”. He argues that cyberspace enables new forms of social interaction, and that his anecdotes prove that race and racism already exist in cyberspace. Therefore according to Kang, cyberspace gives society the choice of three design options; abolition, integration and transmulation. He explains that by adopting all three options in cyberspace, we adopt a policy called “digital diversification”, which he says specifically zones different cyber spaces according to different racial environments, and this will encourage flexible zoning for society. Kang presents his thoughts in the hope of provoking users to think through cyber-race, because although it is not a cure for the existing racial conflict, it should be viewed as a new universe that will build toward racial redemption.
I would use this article in my essay to show that there are ways to possibly solve racial inequality online, and Kang’s argument saves the way race may be represented when popular culture takes up the cyborg as a figure of progress. Although race can disappear, become nonexistent, or be misrepresented online or on cyberspace due to the nonvisual aspect, cyberspace still offers chances that may help supplement racial justice.
REFERENCING: Harvard Style
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