In our first unit, we have focused on race and gender as “cultural operating systems” whose digital aspects cannot be understood separately from their larger histories and contexts. These are structures that shape the ways we move through the world, giving us a sense of identity but also constraining what we see, know, and do. We talked about the ways in which these systems have been created by long histories of patriarchy, colonization, and other hierarchies, and about how profoundly our raced and gendered locations can shape our experience and understanding of the world.
For your first assignment, you’re going to use the method of autoethnography (loosely defined, as we will not be fully engaging in qualititative research practices) to look closely at your own relationship to these cultural operating systems, to more deeply understand how they operate in and around you.
To begin your systematic analysis, spend one day paying conscious and close attention to two things, making notes as you go.
1. The way digital media are shaping your life. Make notes and take pictures or screenshots: What ways of seeing, hearing, moving your body have become intuitive and natural to you because of the ways you use digital devices? Do you feel like nothing’s real unless it’s documented on Facebook or Instagram? Do you see the world through a Tumblr or Tinder lens? Do you encounter different digital experiences through work, family, or friends?
2. The appearance of cultural operating systems in your everyday life. Do you typically hear and participate in a lot of conversations about race, gender, or other kinds of social difference (such as sexuality, class, disability)? When do these issues come up and who discusses them? How do you and the people around you feel when they come up? Are there times when they are lurking beneath the surface without being mentioned? Try to notice not only the presence of these ideas but when their absence is itself noticeable.
Once you have gathered your field notes, read through them and see if you notice particular themes. You might find it useful to informally share these with your classmates. Think back to our readings from class, and note down any moments where your experiences brought a reading to mind. Then, bearing in mind everything you have been attending to, write a response to the following question:
How do raced and gendered structures make themselves felt in your digital life?
You do not need to write a thesis-driven paper, and you should feel free to interpret both “raced and gendered structures” and “digital life” as broadly as you need to in order to account for what you discovered in your autoethnographic research. Take this opportunity to think things through as you write, to explore ideas and they ways they can tangle together.
Requirements:
• Write between 800 and 1200 words
• Include at least two images or screenshots
• Include at least two quotations from assigned readings (both can be from the same article if you like).
• Post your response to the class blog, at any privacy setting you prefer.
Due Monday February 15 by the end of the day.