Open Theses and Dissertations
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Browsing Open Theses and Dissertations by Department "Communication and Media Studies"
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- ItemOpen AccessAn exploration of the communication strategies of three early think tanks(2018-04-20) Hexham, Jeremy Johnston; Brent, Doug; Taras, David; Hatt, Doyle; Barber, A. W.; Srebrnik, Henry F.This thesis discusses the development of communications strategies by three early think tanks. These are the British Socialist Fabian Society founded in 1884, the South African Afrikaner Broederbond founded in 1918, and the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) founded in 1929. All three are generally accepted as highly influential organizations. The Fabian Society is arguably the earliest modern think tank. Its members developed two modes of communication which are identified in this thesis as rational-scientific and cultural-identity communications. In practice the Fabian Society concentrated on rational-scientific communications. The Afrikaner Broederbond developed cultural-identity communications while the SAIRR primarily used rational-scientific communications combined with the strategic use of cultural-identity communications. All three organizations had a major impact on their host societies for good and ill. The Fabians and the Broederbond were the most effective although the long-term influence of the SAIRR should not be underestimated. What the thesis does is create a vocabulary for understanding certain types of think tank communications and provides a framework for the future study and discussion of political communications.
- ItemOpen Access‘App’y Little Dieters: Neoliberalism, Post-Feminism and Genomics in Fitness and Nutrition Apps(2021-06) Brown, Tessa J'Nan; Hogan, Mél; Rudd, Annie; Shepherd, Tamara; Edwards, MeaghanThe discourse around health and wellness can be tied to neoliberal fixations on optimization, self-discipline and personal responsibility. Health and fitness apps promise to simplify this constant work, but their effect is a further responsibilization of individuals living under neoliberal capitalism, as they both profit from and reinforce the idea that each of us is uniquely responsible for our own health outcomes, regardless of social, cultural or relational factors that may impact our well-being. This health-related responsibilization, or “healthism” creates a context wherein we must work constantly to optimize ourselves, or be held at fault for any illness or infirmity we may experience. In this piece, I consider three apps—Lose It!, Fitbit and the Pam app--which offer users advice on health-related subjects including nutrition, “fitness” and sleep quality. This advice is often framed as scientifically backed, and in the case of Lose It!, even tied to the user’s unique genetic code. This scientific framing takes advantage of what Kaushik Sunder Rajan (2006) has described as “fetishes” both around science and genetic determinism, relying on our faith in science to convince us of the validity of their claims, whether those claims are truly backed by research or not. In the case of apps like Lose It! and Fitbit, collecting data on an ever-growing array of “health” metrics, and furthering the push towards the “quantified self” (Elias & Gill 2018). This quantification pushes individuals, and women in particular, to go to ever-greater lengths to surveil themselves and demonstrate their subjectivity through self-discipline, which they must show at least in part by maintaining or achieving thinness (Guthman & DuPuis 2006). Apps like the Pam app rely on the image of an influencer who performs ideal neoliberal subjectivity, which involves constant productivity, a positive affect, and of course a thin body, to attract users. All of these apps both rely on and reinforce neoliberal ideology, adding to our ongoing responsibilization and distracting us from broader cultural problems which require collective action and solidarity rather than the rampant individualism neoliberalism inculcates in us all.
- ItemOpen AccessThe Argonauts of esports Practice: Zooming in on the practice-networks of everyday gamers(2019-01-18) Buckland, Aiden; Bakardjieva, Maria; Mitchell, David B.; Schneider, Barbara; Chee, FlorenceShould people be concerned about everyday gamers’ participation in esports practices? This dissertation will address the question by exploring how everyday gamers’ practices are informed by professional gaming (esports). The rise of professional competitive video gaming has exploded in the past two decades. Billions of dollars of prize money have been awarded to thousands of people around the globe since the turn of the century. While a valorized few players have been able to professionalize their gaming, millions of everyday gamers spend countless hours participating in these same practices with no hope of ever being professionals. Who benefits from the perpetuation of the instrumental in-game practices? Who shapes the practices of groups attempting to organize their esports gaming? How do the affordances of nonhuman actors shape the practices of everyday gamers participating in esports gaming? Can the creation of esports media really empower everyday gamers? Using a micro-ethnographic approach this project will trace practice-networks of a student gaming club at the University of Calgary. The approach draws from the theoretical perspectives of practice theory and actor-network theory. Assessing whether the practices elucidated through this framework should be of concern will be accomplished primarily through the concept of participatory culture. Many scholars have weighed in on the value of participatory culture in contemporary society and those positions will be used in the evaluation of the practice-networks of the gaming group. Through this perspective the study will zoom in on the in-game practices of everyday gamers. Through a series of interviews, event observations and time spent in the game I will examine what resources esports practices require and what benefits players receive for their execution. Through engaging with the concept of gamer capital, and expanding it, I will trace the different pressures placed on everyday gamers in relation to in-game practices. I will then zoom out to examine two of the actants, the Students’ Union and Riot Games, which shaped the organization of the student club. The esports game explored in this study forces everyday gamers to seek out others to form teams to play the game. In their efforts to organize their gaming on campus two main actants exerted influence over the organization of the group. I will trace how this influence was exercise. The group drew on various nonhuman actors, from social media to university lecture halls, in their participation in esports practice. I will then zoom in on how the affordances of these actors shaped the practice of the club. Finally, I will explore a competitive series produced by the group and streamed on YouTube, to assess whether this kind of participation is empowering everyday gamers.
- ItemOpen AccessBetween Nationalism and Neoliberalism: Problematizing Immigration in Canada and Australia(2018-04-26) Karim, Natasha; Shepherd, Tamara; Keller, Jessalynn; Shepherd, Tamara; Banjernee, PallaviThrough conducting a critical discourse analysis of Canada’s and Australia’s immigration policies and national news media framing of immigration, informed by an intersectional and Foucauldian foundation, this thesis exposes and challenges the fundamental assumptions associated with the ideologies of nationalism and neoliberalism that underlie the way the notion of immigration has been conceptualized and problematized within these discourses. Furthermore, by deconstructing the structures of policy and media and the underlying principles, this study demonstrates how personal identifiers are incorporated into the dominant understanding of what it means to be an immigrant in juxtaposition to what it means to be Canadian or Australian on several levels of identification. Lastly, the findings of this study demonstrate the implications that result from how the concept of immigration has been problematized and the role that personal identifiers play for those whose existence had been framed as an issue.
- ItemOpen AccessBeyond the Hashtag: Exploring the #MeToo Movement in News Media(2021-05-14) Jimenez, Angeli Nicole; Keller, Jessalynn Marie; Thrift, Samantha Christine; Rudd, Annie; Guglietti, Maria VictoriaThe phrase “me too” was originally coined by African American women’s rights activist Tarana Burke in 2006 to build solidarity among survivors of sexual assault (Mendes et al., 2018). However, the #MeToo movement gained traction on Twitter on October 2017 when actress Alyssa Milano used the hashtag in response to allegations of sexual assault against former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein (CBS, 2017). Milano compelled multitudes of Twitter users to tweet their own narratives with the hashtag, exhibiting the prevalence and magnitude of sexual assault and gender violence. This thesis problematizes the depiction of the #MeToo movement within traditional news discourse, particularly in news magazines. News media’s engagement and representation of social movements critically influence the public’s perception of these groups and contribute to its failure or success in effecting social change (Barker-Plummer, 2010; Gitlin, 1980). Through feminist discursive analysis, I examine the ways in which news media establish the narrative around #MeToo for readers. This research aims to contribute to the ongoing scholarly discussion of feminist media studies, chiefly in how traditional news attempts to impose order on feminist activism occurring in a digital setting.
- ItemOpen AccessBroadband Internet Rollout in Rural Vietnam: From Policy to Everyday Use(2021-05-21) Pham, Trang; Bakardjieva, Maria; Gow, Gordon; McMahon, Rob; Sciban, Lloyd; Gregory, TaylorThis thesis examines broadband infrastructure rollout and rural residents’ Internet adoption and use in Vietnam through an analysis of the country’s Internet policy documents from 1990 to 2020. It is based on semi-structured interviews with two policy-makers and a content developer from 2016 to 2020, and ethnographic interviews with 79 rural residents conducted between November 2016 and January 2017. The central objective of the thesis is to understand how Vietnamese rural residents use the technology to enlarge their informational and human capabilities. The study draws on three distinctive literatures: critical constructivism, the capabilities approach, and the domestication model. The key findings include a) rural residents hardly understand what broadband Internet is, and thus are unable to contribute their ideas to and monitor the deployment of subsidized broadband Internet networks in their villages; b) the top-down rollout approach that focuses on Internet infrastructure expansion and economic growth as part of the modernization and industrialization discourse does not automatically translate into rural residents’ increased capabilities to lead lives of their choice; and c) rural residents, despite being considered “laggards” in adopting the state-of-the-art technology and experiencing systemic discrimination due to their rural origins, take an active part in shaping the Internet via the initiation of use genres grounded in the social-biographical contexts. Among this thesis’s significant contributions are the demonstration of rural residents’ creativity in the process of Internet adoption; the examination of the relationship between broadband Internet access and the enhancement of human capabilities in this marginalized population; and the documentation of use genres emerging in the process of broadband appropriation and anchored in rural residents’ daily needs and aspirations. Finally, the thesis offers a set of recommendations to Vietnam’s Internet policy makers including: the integration of rural resident voices in Internet policy-making via technology intermediaries; the consideration of both the negative and positive changes that could result from the introduction of broadband Internet in rural areas from users’ perspectives; and the inclusion of rural residents in public deliberation and decision-making concerning the policies and strategies of broadband Internet rollout.
- ItemOpen Access“But You’re Female!”: Discourses of Queer Gender and Sexuality Across BioWare’s Mass Effect Trilogy(2018-01-26) Thai, Tina; Carruthers, Lee; Shepherd, Tamara; Leblanc, Jean-René; Carruthers, LeeBioWare’s highly successful Mass Effect trilogy is one of the most lauded examples of mainstream video games that have incorporated prominent queer representation. In a media landscape that is still navigating marginalized representation in a meaningful way, BioWare has made strides in terms of their depth and quality of queer inclusion since its release. The ways that this inclusion is constructed in all levels of design – from formal game qualities to its storytelling choices – can tell researchers much about how discourses of queerness function, using the game space as a site of discursive operations. Utilizing theory from Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, in tandem with concepts from film studies and queer studies, my research investigates the discursive operations at work throughout the Mass Effect games, with focus on what discourses of queer gender and sexuality are produced, circulated, and subverted though a critical discourse analysis of the games’ text and content. I examine the role of the player at the crux of it all, the specificities that arise from player choice and interactivity, and how they work to create something that demonstrates a nuanced and complex showcase of queer representation.
- ItemOpen AccessCalgary’s East Asian Amateur Film Heritage(2020-01-20) Manabat, Sheena Rosalia; Tepperman, Charles; Croombs, Matthew; Rudd, AnnieThis study explores the localized histories and identities of Asian Calgarians by examining their home movies, asking broadly: how are the visual histories of Calgary and its Asian immigrant population reflected in home movies? The project draws on earlier work from amateur cinema and film studies discourse and calls attention to the visual histories of four ethnic groups and the meanings behind their home movie making practices. Findings include the stories of the individuals and families, commonalities between similar projects, themes uncommon in existing home movie literature, and subjective images imbued with history and culture. By conducting a series of case studies inspired by ethnographic style interviews as well as textual and contextual analysis, my project identifies unique characteristics of Southeast and Northeast Asian Canadian home movies and shows why they are worthy not only of research and study but preservation for future generations.
- ItemOpen AccessCanadian Alumni Magazines: A rhetorical analysis of social sciences and humanities storytelling(2019-09-19) Aalbers, Emily; Smith, Tania; Stowe, Lisa; Eiserman, JenniferThis research project examines the process and product of social sciences and humanities research storytelling in Canadian alumni magazines at research intensive universities. This research is conducted in order to broaden the field of knowledge of what influences the selection and crafting of these stories. Using rhetorical theory as a foundation, I engage a three-tiered methodological approach to expand upon different layers of the process. By reviewing the rhetorical situation, I identify the constraints influencing the production of alumni magazines. Through a rhetorical analysis, I demonstrate the ways ethos is established for both institutions and researchers, the techniques engaged to build pathos through first person storytelling and visual cues, and identify how style is engaged to enhance both ethos and pathos. Finally, by conducting interviews with editors of the magazines I find that while there are many similarities in their approaches, such as influences and story sourcing, there are also differences, such as editorial review processes.
- ItemOpen AccessCapital and the Fantastic Detective Television Serial(2020-09-16) Yopak, Jacob; Croombs, Matthew; Bakardjieva, Maria; Pierson, RyanIn this thesis I compare discussions concerning the representability of modern capitalism with a group of television programs that I term the fantastic detective serial. The theoretical problems hinges on a shift in capital’s perceived representability. I survey texts in modern Marxist media studies that are studying the transition from physical capital to immaterial global capitalism and how that affects the subject. The primary tension that I explore in the literature is the claim that digital technologies or financial abstractions bewilder the subject compared to an understanding that capital is, and always was, spectral. The fantastic detective serial dramatizes this tension. The four television shows that make up this group; Fargo, True Detective, Twin Peaks, and The Leftovers all contain the collision between artisanal local production with global financial capitalism. In addition, the shows all have a detective character that must negotiate an encounter with the fantastic as defined by Tzvetan Todorov. The main point of contact between the shows and the theory is how the show’s usage of the fantastic develops a new way for the subject to reckon with the unknown structure of capital. I claim that by containing the encounter with the supernatural to the detective’s mission it prevents it from becoming another instance of the capitalist sublime.
- ItemOpen AccessChildren and Privacy in Microcelebrity Apology Videos(2022-09) Kardal, Jenna; Shepherd, Tamara; Keller, Jessalynn; Elliott, CharleneIn recent years, family YouTube channels have gained popularity, and have raised a number of concerns about children, privacy, and exploitation in the context of sharenting and microcelebrity. Sometimes, viewers’ concern about children’s well-being leads to backlash against microcelebrity parents. In response, these parents often release apology videos on YouTube in order to repair their image and maintain good standing with their audience. My thesis examined such apology videos to investigate how microcelebrity parents employ children’s privacy in order to repair their image and further their brand according to the ethos of calibrated amateurism. I performed a textual and visual analysis on four YouTube apology videos from two family channels, Myka Stauffer and DaddyOFive, that found themselves at odds with their viewers when their sharenting practices resulted in significant controversy. I employed both Benoit’s (2014c) theory of image repair and Abidin’s (2017) notion of calibrated amateurism as my theoretical perspectives to identify some key conventions of apology videos. In accounting for the comments on these videos, I further analyzed how apology videos are received when microcelebrity parents deploy notions of their children’s privacy as part of this image repair. I found that the conventions of these family apology videos manifested calibrated amateurism while the microcelebrity parents used the language of privacy to protect their brand image in a way that contradicted some of their previous sharenting practices.
- ItemOpen AccessChina Global Television Network's International Communication: Between the National and the Global(2018-01-23) Zhang, Yang; Mitchell, David; Sutherland, Richard; Sciban, LloydIn the context of globalization and digitalization, international Chinese news media have developed rapidly over the past decade. One typical example is the rise of China Global Television Network, CGTN, an English-language news channel operating under the predominant state television broadcaster, China Central Television, CCTV. This project focuses on the production, distribution and consumption of CGTN. It addresses the question of "What roles does Chinese global television network play in China's integration into the globalization process?" Through a systematic analysis of current government policies, news programs of relative events, and extensive interviews of national and overseas audiences, the project describes some of the social impacts CGTN has or potentially may have on Chinese society in terms of globalization and its relation to national identity. As the study demonstrates, CGTN integrates both national and global elements in its branding strategies under the guidance of the Party state. The convergence of nationalism and globalization is the prevalent theme represented in its news and public affairs programs. In this way, CGTN frames a Chinese national identity that includes globalization while at the same time maintaining traditional national values. Based on an analysis of the responses, it appears that this news channel has more influence among its national audiences than its international audiences in terms of values and identities. The effectiveness of CGTN's international communication is still a challenging task.
- ItemOpen AccessConfronting Obstacles Like Olympic Champions: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of the SK-II VS campaign(2024-04-29) Pan, Xia; Shepherd, Tamara; Chan, Julia Sze Hang; Keller, Jessalynn Marie; Taylor, Gregory AKThis thesis examines the “VS” videos launched by skincare brand SK-II, which attempt to intervene in various forms of societal pressure imposed on women. The thesis uses a multimodal discourse analysis approach to examine the visual, verbal, and aural elements present in these videos. Discourse is viewed through a theoretical framework that combines neoliberalism, postfeminism, popular and neoliberal feminism, and globalization to support the interpretation of the videos. The study is guided by the research question: how do the “VS” videos construct a form of contemporary feminized subjectivity through the lens of Olympic athletics? The discussion identifies three discourses which together structure construction of the subjectivity in these videos: the discourse of confidence, the celebration of imperfection, and the representation of universalism. The findings are used to support my argument that the “VS” videos universalize women’s struggle through constructing a form of powerful femininity through the lens of athletics in a global context, yet they still maintain traditional beauty ideals and structural gender inequalities underpinned by postfeminism and neoliberalism. Despite their intention to promote SK-II’s inclusive brand commitment to women’s empowerment, the videos ultimately pose an extra constraint for women, implying that women have to constantly cultivate inner confidence because they are inherently inadequate. This analysis contributes to the discussion of postfeminist culture and neoliberalism with a focus on the particular domain of Olympic athletics.
- ItemOpen AccessConstructing the Queer Christian: A Counterdiscourse Analysis of Queer Exvangelicalism on Twitter(2023-06-13) O'Brien, Claire Elizabeth; Thrift, Samantha; Keller, Jessalynn; Johnston, DawnThis thesis examines the counterdiscourses created by “queer exvangelical” communities on Twitter in response to the queer-exclusionary discourses of fundamentalist Christianity. The queer exvangelical community is comprised of former and questioning queer Christians who use digital platforms to share their experiences of leaving or reforming their faith due to the homophobia and LGBTQIA2+ exclusion that takes place within many Christian communities. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, this research identifies and examines the counterdiscourses constructed and disseminated within these online networks and considers the ways in which Twitter’s affordances facilitate their creation, circulation, and levels of engagement. Ultimately, this case study finds that these communities construct a counterdiscursive figure of a “queer-Christian,” who challenges the exclusionary and hateful theology and beliefs that has long denied sanctity and “goodness” to queer identities. Through acts of storytelling, solidarity, and support, the “queer-Christian” facilitates personal and community healing within the exvangelical community. This project views the de- and reconstruction of anti-queer fundamentalist Christian discourse as a necessary step in creating new, inclusive knowledges about sex, sexuality, and gender in the Western context.
- ItemOpen AccessDeveloping Dynamic Communication Strategies for Energy Policy(2019-08-19) Kjosness, Madyson Isabella; Hawkins, Richard William; Hogan, Mél; Einsiedel, Edna F.This thesis explores the area of energy communication research while focusing specifically on the Canadian political realm. Currently within Canada, energy policy is discussed in a manner that cross-markets two seemingly incongruent goals -- to grow the economy in green technology and increase market access to further promote oil and gas development. Rooted in strategic communication theory, this dissertation explores the dynamic, ever-changing social landscape surrounding the debate through the scholars Norbert Elias and Pierre Bourdieu. Based on the analysis and results, this work sets forth a suggested communications strategy to policymakers that may better inform Canadian citizens on complicated energy issues.
- ItemOpen AccessDoing Design Thinking: An Ethnography of the Digital Graphic Design Studio(2018-05-17) Dorland, AnneMarie Rose Ennis; Rusted, Brian; Tepperman, Charles; McCoy, Liza; Taylor, Gregory; Sinclair, Robert; Strandvad, SaraHow do designers do design thinking? The design studio is often held as an epicentre of a new way of thinking about complex problems: design thinking. As such, the studio itself it is frequently appropriated as a model for generating creativity and innovation quickly and reliably. In this research, I describe how the discourse of design thinking is re-shaping the practice of design work from which it takes its name. By examining the effects of the design thinking discourse on the work of a design team, I provide a rich view into the day-to-day workings of communication designers engaged in negotiating the discourse of design thinking in their practice. Drawing on ethnographic observations of client pitches, team brainstorms and daily work in the studio itself, I argue the discourse around design thinking is made visible in the ways that designers engage with clients, with their teams, and in their individual practice. At the studio level, I investigate the ways in which auditing practices and client facing work are shaped by this evolving discourse, and how the discourse of design thinking is mobilized as both a translation device and catalyst for change. At the team level, I demonstrate the challenges introduced by this discourse to teams attempting to reconcile the performative aspects of their work with the mundane but essential labour of cultural production, and how they develop new understandings of what it means to be a designer who makes thoughts, not things. And at the practice level, I examine the surprising role of ambiguity within the daily work of individual members of this community of practice. By examining the development of graphic communications, and the effect of a discourse on a unique social practice of cultural production, I paint a picture of the interplay of routine and adaptation in the work of producing communication design. I conclude by proposing a model of a holistic design mindset: one that incorporates designed thinking, design doing, and design culture with the attitudes, aptitudes and approaches of this occupational culture.
- ItemOpen AccessDoing Things with Words: The New Consequences of Writing in the Age of AI(2023-08) Chokshi, Crystal Nicole; Hogan, Mél; Mansell, Robin Elizabeth; Rudd, Annie; Banting, Pamela; Lawrence, Halcyon M.Exploring the entanglement between artificial intelligence (AI) and writing, this thesis asks, what does writing with AI do? And, how can this doing be made visible, since the consequences of information and communication technologies (ICTs) are so often opaque? To propose one set of answers to the questions above, I begin by working with Google Smart Compose, the word-prediction AI Google launched to more than a billion global users in 2018, by way of a novel method I call AI interaction experiments. In these experiments, I transcribe texts into Gmail and Google Docs, carefully documenting Smart Compose’s interventions and output. Wedding these experiments to existing scholarship, I argue that writing with AI does three things: it engages writers in asymmetrical economic relations with Big Tech; it entangles unwitting writers in climate crisis by virtue of the vast resources, as Bender et al. (2021), Crawford (2021), and Strubell et al. (2019) have pointed out, required to train and sustain AI models; and it perpetuates linguistic racism, further embedding harmful politics of race and representation in everyday life. In making these arguments, my purpose is to intervene in normative discourses surrounding technology, exposing hard-to-see consequences so that we—people in the academy, critical media scholars, educators, and especially those of us in dominant groups— may envision better futures. Toward both exposure and reimagining, my dissertation’s primary contributions are research-creational work. Research-creational interventions accompany each of the three major chapters of this work, drawing attention to the economic, climate, and race relations that word-prediction AI conceals and to the otherwise opaque premises on which it rests. The broader wager of my dissertation is that what technologies do and what they are is inseparable: the relations a technology enacts must be exposed, and they must necessarily figure into how we understand the technology itself. Because writing with AI enacts particular economic, climate, and race relations, these relations must figure into our understanding of what it means to write with AI and, because of AI’s increasing entanglement with acts of writing, into our very understanding of what it means to write.
- ItemOpen AccessDumpster Diving and the Ideal in the Settler-Colonial Imaginary: Heritage Images and their Potential Futures(2021-09-09) Thomas, Andrew Kacey; Hogan, Mél; Wiens, Jason; Pierson, RyanAccess and contextualization were problems when archives could only be accessed by scholars, or open to the public in a physical location, but they are now compounded by the affordances of digital access in a unique way. While making archival legacy images available online seems to enable greater understanding of our settler-colonial history, it also allows for popular perceptions and settler-preferences to shape our interaction with these photographs in image searches. This thesis explores the concept of the settler-colonial imaginary, or a perception of the future and narratives of society, in order to understand the way internet search algorithms reproduce and shape settler perceptions of Indigenous futurity through photographs. This is done by conducting three case study analyses of representative moments captured in settler-media photography and examining the continuing effect the framing of these symbols has on settler perceptions of history. By contextualizing the use of symbols of Indigenous difference in the perpetuation of the settler-imaginary, this thesis argues that the default organization of images created by search algorithms reifies racist perceptions of indigeneity which has continuing effects on the production of settler potential futures. In conclusion, I offer reparative interventions in the form of utopian projections to suggest actions that could be done to address this issue at this time.
- ItemOpen AccessAn Exploration of the Sensuous Registers within the Films of Celine Sciamma(2022-01-24) Nguyen, Quynh; Tepperman, Charles; Pierson, Ryan; Croombs, Matthew; Vonderheide, LeahThis thesis examines the haptic and sensuous registers of French director Céline Sciamma’s feature works and their embodiment of the sensuous and affective registers of cinema, exemplifying an alternative to the male gaze. Considered one of French cinema’s most prominent contemporary feminist filmmaker, Sciamma’s works are relatively new and thus underexplored within Anglo-Western feminist, media and film studies. This thesis relies on the theoretical frameworks outlined by seminal film phenomenologists Vivian Sobchack, Jennifer Barker, Laura Marks while also making reference to foundational scholars of Western ocularcentric thought and psychoanalysis: Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Lacan and Sigmund Freud. Films researched comprises of Sciamma’s directorial oeuvre up to the year 2020, Water Lilies (2007), Tomboy (2011), Girlhood (2013), and Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019). This thesis argues that the male gaze relies on vision’s privileged place atop the sensual hierarchy in Western thought, thus the corporeal, affective registers palpable Sciamma’s works allow for an alternative to the male gaze. This thesis also briefly explores the implications of such a filmmaker within the current landscapes of cinema and feminism in France and sparks new scholarship within this intersection.
- ItemOpen AccessFacebook Use in the 2011 and 2013 Revolts in Egypt: The New Media Environment(2022-06) Elsayed Mohamed, Heba; Bakardjieva, Maria; Amin, Hussein; Gow, Gordon; Adorjan, Michael; Iskandar, AdelThis dissertation examines the role of Facebook in the political mobilization of young people who participated in the two revolts of 2011 and 2013 in Egypt. The study focuses on the evolving media environment and the transformation of the Egyptian public sphere immediately before and during the two events. It examines the ways in which social and mainstream media clashed and intersected to create new opportunities for Egyptian youth to engage politically online and offline. The research adopts a qualitative approach using in-depth interviews with two categories of research subjects: ordinary young Egyptian citizens who used Facebook for social networking before 2011 and subsequently appropriated it as a tool for political engagement and participation and a small set of prominent Egyptian media professionals working in mainstream organizations. The dissertation covers the period from early 2010 to 2013 to demonstrate how young Egyptian users discovered the political affordances of Facebook and redefined it as a platform for forging activist identities and communities. Special attention is given to the tensions between personal and political relationships and commitments unfolding on participants’ profile pages and in their immediate family and friendship circles. The growing importance of Facebook as a source of political news and a space for counter-public deliberation competing with and overshadowing mainstream media is discussed with a view to the effects it had on the overall restructuring of the Egyptian public sphere. The study draws on three distinctive works of literature: social shaping of technology, Habermas’ theory of the public sphere, and research on social media and social movements. The dissertation illuminates the process through which young people in an authoritarian society using Facebook overcame their doubts and fears and became motivated to engage in online political participation that later transformed into offline political protest. The study is innovative as it follows the changing political uses of Facebook in forming counter-public spheres and collective identities, building social capital, and organizing offline protest in both the 2011 and 2013 Egyptian revolts which differed in their driving forces and demands. Another original feature of this work is the parallel it draws between the perspective of audience members and that of professional journalists and producers on the evolving cross-media environment in which social and mainstream media interact and compete.
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