Post-colonialism - bonus reading and tasks

1) Summarize Alvarado, Fanon and Said in one sentence.

• Alvarado: Pitied, humorous, dangerous and exotic four key themes in racial representations often quoted in relation to the black community.    
• Fanon: Black stereotypes typically Primitivize, Infantilize, Essentialize and Decivilize.
• Said: East and West are divided, the east is considered to be different, dangerous and uncivilized. 

MM58: Social Media and Black Identity

Open up MM58 from our Media Magazine archive. Go to page 66 and read Social Media and Black Identity then complete the following tasks:

2) List three theorists discussed in the article and what they believe regarding black identity.

• Aisha Harris: Argues that social media plays a negative role in the construction of black identities. Harris believes that rise of social media has created a culture where black people are subject to a process of 'Memeification' where there likeness becomes a decontextualised internet meme. 

Example: 'Sweet Brown' - African American women who's closing line in a interview was "Ain't nobody got time for that" which went viral on social media becoming a catchphrase in the public consciousnesses triggering a string of UGC from parodies to remixes that appropriated Brown's likeness and her words for the sake of humour.    

• Giddens: Argues that social media can be an arena for construction of positive black identities.

Example: 'The Blackout' originated on social network 'Tumbler' - Involved systematic 're-imaging' and celebration of blackness. Black people posted pictures of themselves and other people with positive hashtags such as #Goddess #Princess 

• Henry Jenkins: Argues that social media is an arena wherein 'Participatory Cultures' can be established: online, interest-driven networks that allow members to creatively channel the skills they gain online into political activism & voicing marginalized view points 

Example: 'Black Twitter' (#BlackTwitter): A socially constructed community that actively challenges negative representations of black identity in the mass media and wider society. Reaffirms positive views of black identity through humour, art, activism and education. 

3) In your opinion, is social media a positive or negative force when it comes to issues of black identity? 

I would say that social media is a positive nor negative force when it comes to issues of black identity. This is because social media has both helped and hindered when it comes to recognizing the issues of black identity. As discussed in the article; social media has helped get the issues of black identity recognized through campaigns such as 'The Blackout' and given people food for thought. But social media has also hindered through viral sharing of events such as 'Sweet Brown' where what happened was manipulated to humour others and demonstrated the lack of care and interest about the issues surrounding the black community. 

4) How could you apply the post-colonial theories we have learned in class to the issue of social media and black identity?

Alvarado: The point of 'Dangerous' is reinforced through the representation of the black community and identity in the digital world because as soon as we read something about a particular place (e.g. Acton) we automatically link the area to being dominated by the black community and assume that they are involved in what we hear on the news (e.g. shooting). When the black community are associated to such events we seem to then think less of them and build a negative opinion of them when it actual fact we do not know the whole story at that point in time. 

Fanon: The points of 'Decivilize' and 'Essentialize' are reinforced when it comes to the issue of social media and black identity because as quoted in a Guardian article (When the media misrepresents black men, the effects are felt in the real world) 'black people are often  turned away from jobs because we are not the “right fit”. While on the streets, we are regularly treated by police as dangerous suspects.' The black community are not shown the same respect as the average white male. 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/12/media-misrepresents-black-men-effects-felt-real-world

Said: The issues of social media and the black community can be linked to Said's theory because despite being a part of the Western culture the black community are separated from the rest of the Western culture. On a scale they are at least 5 notches further down then the rest of the Western community when represented on social media and in the mass media. 

A Hustle for Life: Refugees in the Media

Now turn to page 6 and read A Hustle for Life: Refugees in the Media. When you have read the article, complete the following tasks:

1) What examples of different representations of refugees in the media are offered in the article?

Great deal of language and imagery has been hostile

•  Refugees labelled as migrants to create the impression that they are travelling by choice rather than to flee genuine disaster.
• Represented as a swarm,horde or tide marauding and invading their way across the world.

Such representations of refugees create an image in reader's minds that refugees are a dangerous and threatening mass. 

2) In your opinion, is the documentary genre more or less biased than the news media? What examples can you provide from the article to support your view?

I feel that the documentary genre is less biased than news media because it can 'correct overwhelmingly negative representations elsewhere in the media'. An example from the article is the BBC documentary 'The Refugee Camp: Our desert home' which shows the crisis from both perspectives: One perspective is from the viewpoint of the presenter (Anita Rani) and her crew and the second perspective is from the viewpoint of the residents that reside in the camp in Zaatari that has slowly grown into a city. 

3) How could you apply the post-colonial theories we have learned in class to the representation of refugees in the media?

• Alvarado: The point of 'Pitied' is reinforced as those of the Eastern culture and society are seeking help from the west they are dependent on other countries to take them in as they flee from war. 
• Fanon: The point of 'Essentialize' is challenged because those from the East are not all the same; while some have chosen to involve themselves in the war other innocent people are fleeing the war. 
• Said: This theory is reinforced as the way in which the East are represented in the Western mass media shows a clear divide between the West and the East. The media reports the East as the dangerous, different and uncivilized people that Said suggests rather than equaling focusing on the innocent people who are trying to flee all this madness.