Paper short abstract:

With the emergence of social media young Muslims seek to change misprepresentations and negative images of Muslims. In seeking to represent a "normal" life, performing the Muslim self in set scenes is key to Muslim lifestyle blogging.

Paper long abstract:

The image and representation of Muslims in media and public debate was (and often times still is) very much informed on one hand by the traditional understanding of what a "true" Muslim should be and on the other hand by overwhelmingly negative media images in the realm of global terrorism. Young Muslims started, with the emergence of social media such as Instagram and YouTube, and with the help of digital technology, creating own images, challenging both of these offerings. Lifestyle blogger Dina Tokio asks "How many stereotypes should we break? (…) We are normal people."

I suggest, that these young Muslim lifestyle bloggers push against Islamophobia as much as against a traditionalist understanding of Islam through their blogging practice, while the performativity of their Muslim selves is key. Within this frame, this paper wishes to present first research results of my case-study on lifestyle blogging by British Muslim couple Sid and Dina on YouTube and Instagram.

Goffman's ideas on image-management and face-work support my early findings. While seeking for an individual representation of their lives as Muslims, they set their selves and their everyday lives into scene, performing a Muslim self infront of their Smartphones and cameras, broadcasting their "normal", "ordinary" lives. However, this practice challenges the traditional Islamic separation of the private (family, women, partnership) and the public.

This paper wishes to shed light onto the above desribed phenomenon and to discuss follow-up questions on the performativity of the self in digital culture in general.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper I would like to present the first results of my phd research project, that focuses on the circulation between digital imageries of sustainable travelling created by providers and the tourist's agency challenging hierarchies of interpretations and concrete travel practices.

Paper long abstract:

"Green travelling" and "sustainable tourism" are keywords of modern marketing strategies for urban settings, mountain sceneries as well as for coastal landscapes. On the one end, we find providers in tourism creating certain images of "the green traveller" on their webpages, giving advice for ethical travel practices and presenting destinations as hotspots for sustainable vacations, on the other end, we find tourists, with an opportunity to present themselves on social media such as Instagram, Facebook or travel blogs. New media gives tourists a way to demonstrate their perspectives, to make their interpretations public and to situate themselves in a wider context of sustainability as an element of lifestyle.

In this paper I would like to present the first results of my phd research project, that focuses on the circulation between digital imageries of sustainable travelling created by providers. I also would like to shed light on to the presentation of a green self in social media and to the actor's agency challenging traditional hierarchies of interpretations and concrete travel practices. I suggest that these constructions and practices should not be seen as unpolitical or neutral (Salzar 2014) but rather as dynamic, flowing and as an embodiment of social values. Following this argument, the green self in the digital world can be seen as a (self) marketing strategy but also as an expression of world perceptions (Gerndt 2001) of political and social questions and of dreams of a better future.

Paper short abstract:

Based on ethnographic interviews, this paper looks at the practices of capturing, customizing, sharing and storing the self in every day contexts and, additionally, to the reaction of target audiences to such (re)presentations of the self on social networks.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is based on an ongoing research carried out on youth cultures and their practice of capturing, customizing, sharing and storing the every day life experiences on Facebook and Instagram, be those individual or involving a larger group. The main focus of this undertaking is to determine whether and to what extent the shared selves fall under a specific economy of (re)presenting individuality as response to external, context-based, performative scenarios against the backdrop of fitting the mediated social expectations of an imagined audience. Conversely, some other instances display quite the opposite in the sense that the shared self is made of features contrasting the expectations of the group watching such performance. Although the purpose of such approach to museification appears to be quite diverse, the means for creating the shared (re)presentations are interestingly similar and largely correspond to a 'way of worldmaking' (Goodman, 1978) using images instead of words. The struggle to combine 'versions' of with 'visions' on the self transform the self-representation into a coherent process of both making and 'refurbishing' to an ideal self-centred or group-triggered image. Finally, the shared selves are further subject to a selection of audiences, in the sense that the not all instances are shared similarly on both social media and certain images are shared among different audience.

All the above observations are stemming from both traditional, face-to-face and mediated ethnographic interviews and observation of network behaviour of sharing and liking.

Paper short abstract:

Based on the empirical observation that selfies cannot be sufficiently understood in the theoretical framework of the digital self, it is argued that protest selfies refer to a non-narcissistic dimension that helps constitute a social coexistence and something shared and common.

Paper long abstract:

The focus on an alleged narcissism overlooks the diversity of socio-cultural practices associated with selfies. It is assumed that selfies primarily act as a performance tool for social relationships (partnership, friendship, family). (Schönberger 2017; Holfelder/Schönberger 2018). Because selfies are ubiquitous, so the thesis, they not only have a function for the "self", but also for social "togetherness" and for what is shared. Selfies are also used as a political tool. In this paper, selfies are analyzed as a recombinant practice of political protest. Can the selfie be seen as an extension of the possibility of political communication? While a "like" or an online petition has little binding force, selfies with names and faces represent a commitment.

If we understand selfies in the context of a process of social aestheticization (Holfelder/Schönberger 2017), then another alleged tendency, namely the aestheticization of politics, can be interpreted differently.

Holfelder/Schönberger (2017), Einführung - Bewegtfilmpraktiken und Alltagskultur(en). In: Dies. (eds.), Bewegtbilder und Alltagskultur(en). Von Super 8 über Video zum Handyfilm. Praktiken von Amateuren im Prozess der gesellschaftlichen Ästhetisierung. Köln, 9-15.

Holfelder/Schönberger (2018), "Jetzt schau doch nicht so schlecht gelaunt!". Das Urlaubsselfie. In: Verein Industriekultur und Alltagsgeschichte, Werner Koroschitz (eds.), Zimmer frei. Die Entwicklung der "Fremdenpflege" in Kärnten. Klagenfurt/Celovec, 209-214.

Schönberger (2017), "But first, LET ME TAKE A SELFIE" oder eine neue Art sich selbst zu betrachten und sich mit anderen zu unterhalten? In: Braun etal. (eds.), Kulturen der Sinne. Zugänge zur Sensualität der sozialen Welt. Münster, 37-53.

Paper short abstract:

From the sexy gun girl to the friendly grandpa to the tactical operator, online gun culture offers a rich reservoir of selves. Performing these selves to each other enacts deeply valued communities. But what are the costs of piecing together digital identities from the products of the arms industry?

Paper long abstract:

Based in over 10 years of ethnographic work in the online gun community, this paper documents, categorizes, and notes the variety performative identity types made available in online gun discourse: from the sexy gun girl to the friendly grandpa to the tactical operator, online gun culture creates a wide field of performative expression for gun enthusiasts. By performing these characters to each other, deeply valued communities are enacted. Based on an industry built around arms manufacture however, what are the costs of performing guns online?

This paper would first describe how social media have created digital spaces where individuals can perform very specific selves to an enclave of like-minded others. Describing online gun culture, the paper would then note the wide variety of selves individuals can perform for this gun-based enclave. Based on statements and interviews, the value of these individuals have for their online gun-selves would be assessed. Considering the affordances offered by digital identity performance to a highly specific and controversial enclave, this paper would conclude by considering the social costs incurred by choosing to perform identities that both enable and are enabled by an arms industry driven glorified in popular culture and buoyed by private gun sales but created to empower state military and policing forces.

Paper short abstract:

Presenting the case of the online presences of Siena's neighborhoods it is argued that unfolding digital collective selves are performative practices of positioning collective identities on the local and global stage. In the web these neighborhoods create private looking public online selves.

Paper long abstract:

Inside and outside pressures make it essential for neighborhoods which are in the focus of public interest to create a presence on the WWW. Presenting the case of the web pages of the contrade of Siena, the neighborhoods of Siena's city center which are the main protagonists of the famous festival Palio di Siena, it is argued that online representations are performative practices of forming and controlling collective identities. The study indicates that the WWW, in terms of a phenomenological perspective, is a new temporal and spatial horizon inhabited by collectives imposing on them special ways to unfold their collective selves. Besides of being influenced by the audience and technology, the online self is intimately tied to the offline self.

The WWW is a media with a potential global range enabling communities to spread their ideas about themselves to a vast variety of audiences which blend online, according to Meyrowitz (2005), to a "generalized elsewhere". Entering the global stage, which is inherent in the code and logic of the technology "WWW", requires particular styles of representations which are called by Miller and Slater (2001) "expansive realization", meaning that pictures, videos and texts exhibited online are carefully selected, in order to position their unfolded collective self at the local and global stage without loosing control over it; the contrade create private looking public online selves. The present study bases on fieldwork curried out in Siena 2014, 2015 and 2017 as well as on an analysis of the contrade's web pages.

Paper short abstract:

The "digital natives" concept has branded an entire generation as a new universal type of individualistic, narcissist "humans". In my ethnographic research among adolescents in Vienna, I focus on their creative engagement with digital "technologies of the self" and gamified sociality.

Paper long abstract:

The emergence of the "digital natives" concept(Barlow 1996, Prensky 2001)has branded an entire generation of young people as a new universal type of "humans" devoid of empathy, exhibiting risky online behavior while simultaneously demonstrating a natural mastery of "intuitive" digital technology (boyd 2014). However this generalization glosses over political issues of socioeconomic inequality, intransparent data mining, but also cultural appropriation in the local context.

In my doctoral research I look beyond generational critique based on moralistic arguments and philosophical ideas about the "individualistic" person in the "West" (Ouroussoff 1993). In an ethnographic research among adolescents in Vienna, I focus on the practices of the young "consumers" in relation to the digital "technologies of the self" (Foucault 1988). However, the performativity and construction of the supposedly individualistic and narcissist self is seen in the context of relationality (Miller 2011, Strathern 1988) and gamified exchange with peers. Furthermore, the practices are integrated into the wider social and cultural perspective, adding ethnographic depth to the concept of neoliberal "enterprising self" (Gershon 2011, Rose 1998) in Austria.

On one hand, this research explores the politics of psychological models behind gamified design of social media and games, as well as ideological assumptions and marketing agendas of tech producers. On the other, it emphasizes the agency of creative "consumers". With this in mind, this dissertation is part of an interdisciplinary project developing a "Serious Game" for adolescents. Herein, co-creation is used in order to develop a learning game, which deals with gamification, marketing and privacy practices.

Paper short abstract:

This contribution focuses on emojis and their role in the constant documentation and sharing of emotional practices in digital contexts with a cultural analytical approach. Exemplified by emoji practices we seek to deconstruct their role in the performance of the digital self in everyday life.

Paper long abstract:

With their happy and colourful appearance emojis are an integral part of digital self expression and invite to document, share and perform the emotional self in digital culture.

Emotional practices online can be read as both, the satisfaction of personal needs as well as the fulfillment of neoliberal imaginations of productivity. As immediate expressions, emoji practices also refer to the dynamics and immediacy of online digitally mediated communication. The increasing use of emoji in everyday communication negotiates established privacy routines and allows to publicly share private sentiments.

As visual documentations of emotions, resembling bodies and faces, they are closely associated with individuals, adding an emotional layer to the digital communications repertoire: They allow to share anger, love, sadness and happiness etc. Thus emoji practices of sharing and non-sharing serve as an integral part in building, sustaining or alienating relationships. Their ambivalence becomes evident in misunderstanding, negotiations, and conflicts. Users cannot rely on a fixed meaning of emojis, thus how they are interpreted and "read" depends largely on social, cultural and situative context. Employing these commodified digital objects as performances of the self they point to the necessities of responsibility, self-presentation and emotional involvement in neoliberal subject-making.

Our findings are based on an ethnographic research in 2016, on emojis, emotional practices and emotionally involving online content. The multimethod approach consisted of emoji diaries, group discussions and qualitative interviews with students (age 10-16).

Paper short abstract:

The paper will be focused on the social and cultural meanings of photography, produced and shared by users of social media, theoretical and empirical approaches to the usage of user photos in anthropology and the implications of digital anthropology findings for urban planning and design.

Paper long abstract:

Participant and non-participant observation has for decades been key methods of anthropological research. A classically trained anthropologist would spend months with the community he or she is interested in, observing its everyday life, feasts and rites and doing a "thick description" (Geertz 1973) of the norms and values underlying these practices. Today applied urban anthropology, however, finds itself under serious time pressure: it needs to get as much information on the life of a city within weeks rather than months.

Digital anthropology is one of the answers to this challenge. Research of on-line traces of human activity (including texts, likes, shares and photos) allows to get a look inside everyday practices of a whole year. Importantly, these traces are a subject of social norms and attitudes, and thus they give an insight not only into lives of individuals, but also give an understanding of what the community sees as valuable and prestigious.

The paper will be focused on the social and cultural meanings of photography, produced and shared by users of social media, theoretical and empirical approaches to the usage of user photos in anthropology and the implications of digital anthropology findings for urban planning and design on the case of 33 Russian "monotowns" (mostly economically declining cities and towns economically based on a single industry). The data allows the researcher not only to understand the processes of digital self-presentation, but also the data which were meant to be private are working for the public benefit of renewing the cities.

Paper short abstract:

Using the example of video-blogs this paper seeks to discuss how proximity is created through sensuality and mediality. Furthermore, it focuses on the relation between performances in digital spaces and pop cultural events, like festivals, and their cultural-industrial framing.

Paper long abstract:

Even if parts of the Goth Scene seem to be nostalgic - especially due to the aesthetic iterations of past aeras such as Victorian and Medieval ages - or at least by the insistence of music and styles of the 1980s - digital cultures have nevertheless a strong effect on the scene, mainly when it comes to events.

YouTube user Reikon DeVore starts his video blog about the Wave Gotik Treffen 2017, the largest goth festival in Germany, with a short atmospheric introduction. By use of a selfie-stick and talking head-on to the camera, he expresses: "So far we did no recording like usually of how we got our ribbons or did our make-up (...). Just because it is way too hot, we're all pretty lazy ... and everything is pretty shitty in general."

This paper focuses, as outlined in the example above, on the sensual experiences of the everyday atmosphere at the festival by the mediality of Video-Blogs - by the use of cuts, sounds, camera-work or display details. Hypothetically, it assumes that through the medial form as well as the participation in sensual moments, meaning is performatively constructed and negotiated, that goes beyond the visual self-presentation of the acteurs. The hypothesis, that will be discussed, is that the produced digital proximity is also be used by the cultural industry or the festival organisation and contributes to the process of event culture.

Paper short abstract:

Crime writing is marketed as a lifestyle through social media channels. The working conditions, as well as the content of what is sold and marketed have gone through many changes recently, and some of them are connected to an increasing focus on digital communication.

Paper long abstract:

The Swedish crime genre is experiencing an intense period of change at the moment. Crime writers appear to be at the forefront when it comes to the issue of how to reach international audiences, how to promote books and author's brands through events, and how to create a successful life as a writer. The working conditions, as well as the content of what is sold and marketed to the readers have gone through many changes recently, and some of them are connected to an increasing focus on digital communication. This presentation will investigate how crime writing is marketed as a lifestyle through social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It will be based on a pilot study of the social media channels of a selected group of contemporary Swedish crime writers.

Many of the writers seem to find it necessary to do a great deal of networking via social media. These interactions can be perceived as both stressful and a welcome relief providing a break from the lonely life of writing. Many of the writers, although not all, use their accounts in order to promote a certain lifestyle that is linked to their careers as crime writers. The social marketing channels - often designed to reflect the writer's individual personality - are thus used to enhance and nuance the images provided for instance in celebrity or lifestyle interviews.

Paper short abstract:

This talk discusses the mediated, mobilised practices of travellers who use mobile devices to locate, produce and consume their experiences of destinations. It analyses the role played by multiple experiences, practices and and localities of travellers in fashioning new selves and subjectivities.

Paper long abstract:

James Clifford has noted that travel is not merely about going places; it is a conceptual and geographic displacement intended to catalyse consciously enriching experiences. Concomitant with the rise of so-called experiential travel, changes in the production, consumption and mediation of such experience have 'de-placed' travel's purpose, shifting it from a phenomenon concerned with place to one focused on the self. In this talk, I discuss the mediated and mobilised practices of travellers who use mobile devices to locate, map, navigate, produce and consume their experiences of destination and of movement. Considering the ways travel exists across digital, material and sensory environments, I analyse the role played by multiple experiences, practices, relationships, social worlds and localities of travellers (both on the move and on and off the web) in fashioning new subjectivities of contemporary mobility. I question the components of these new subjectivities and the subjects produced out of digitised, narrativised and prosumed forms of mobility. If, as Roberto Simanowski has recently argued, the subjective experience of the present itself is being eroded by our penchant for structuring, capturing and fixing experience's moments, then the new digital practices of travellers become a key context for analysing the shifting natures of the social processes and technological mediation of mobility.