[Air-l] Re: New Theoretical Approaches to the Self in Cyber-Culture

[Mary L. Gray]

> From: "Jeremy Crampton" <jcrampton at gsu.edu>
> To: <air-l at aoir.org>
> Subject: Re: [Air-l] Re: New Theoretical Approaches to the Self in
> Cyber-Culture
> Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 13:15:34 -0500
> Reply-To: air-l at aoir.org
> 
> Has anybody done work on Foucault's idea of the "technologies of the =
> self" in cyberspace? <snip>

I've been thinking about how Foucault's notion fits into my own dissertation
work on rural youth in the US and the ways these youth bring the Internet
into their negotiations of sexual and gender self-identities.

One thing I've considered is combining  Jose Estban-Munoz's use of
Foucault's "ethics of self" with "technologies of self" (see the article
"Pedro Zamora¹s Real World of Counterpublicity: Performing and Ethics of the
Self" in Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performances of
Politics for Munoz's take on the "ethics of self"). ...but, is that just too
much mixing of Foucault, or what?

In "the care of the self" Foucault suggested that some production of self
identity could be seen as a means of crafting a broader sense of possibility
for personhood...that by constructing a sense of self through style,
publicity, and claims to originality, people could open spaces for others to
create different ways of being in the world. Munoz takes this idea and
examines the potential of media (specifically television) to open spaces
where advocates of particular ideas and/or representing groups we don't
regularly see in the media could build out (albeit problematically)
different ideas of the self in the service of others.

but, the piece that's coming up for me is this: technologies don't
inherently/neutrally provide opportunities for constructions of the self as
much as they are part of and reflect historical/political conditions that
define who is recognizable...so, in my own research, i don't think that the
question is about the role the Internet plays in young queer lives (how this
"new technology" creates the space for self-formation to happen differently)
but rather what conditions have defined the Internet as *the* place to go
for "identity work" over other resources such as schools, parents, churches,
etc. 

i dunno. i'm still just reading as much as i can in this list and other
places to think through these ideas. hope the conversation carries on.

best,
marygray
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary L. Gray <mlgray at ucsd.edu>
Department of Communication
University of California, San Diego
vox:    502/451.5003
mail:   PO Box 4004, Louisville, KY 40204
http://weber.ucsd.edu/~mgray
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~