The Aesthetics and Politics of the Online Self: A Savage Journey into the Heart of Digital Cultures - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3030654990 ISBN 13: 9783030654993

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022

Synopsis

This volume investigates our dissonant and exuberant existences online. As social media users we know we’re under surveillance, yet we continue to click, like, love and share ourselves online as if nothing was. So, how do we overcome the current online identity regime? Can we overthrow the rule of Narcissus and destroy the planetary middle class subject? In this catalogue of strategies, the reader will find stories on hacker groups, gaming platforms in the occupied territories, art objects, selfies, augmented reality, Gen Z autoethnographies, love and life. The authors of this anthology believe we cannot simply put vanity aside and a rational analysis of platform capitalism is not going to convince the youngs on TikTok nor liberate us from Zuckerbergian indentured servitude. Do we really need to wade through the subjective mud and ‘learn more’ about online aesthetics? The answer is yes.

Writing by Wendy Chun, Franco Berardi “BIFO”, Julia Preisker, Katherine Behar, Rebecca Stein, Fabio Cristiano, Emilio Distretti, Natalie Bookchin, Ana Peraica, Mitra Azar, Donatella Della Ratta, Gabriella Coleman, Marco Deseriis, Alberto Micali, Daniel de Zeeuw, Giovanni Boccia Artieri, Jodi Dean.

About this title

About the Author

Donatella Della Ratta is Associate Professor of Communications and Media Studies at John Cabot University, Italy. She specializes in digital media and networked technologies with a focus on the Arab world. 

Geert Lovink is Director of the Institute of Network Cultures at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands, and author of Sad by Design (2019).

Teresa Numerico is Associate Professor of Philosophy of Science at Roma Tre University, Italy. Her research interests lie at the intersection between philosophy, ethics and politics of technology with a focus on artificial intelligence. 

Peter Sarram is Associate Professor of Communications and Media Studies at John Cabot University, Italy. His work revolves around questions of popular culture, social identities and technology.

From the Back Cover

This volume investigates our dissonant and exuberant existence online. As social media users, we know we’re under surveillance, yet we continue to click, like, love and share ourselves online as if nothing was. So, how do we overcome the current online identity regime? Can we overthrow the rule of Narcissus and destroy the planetary middle class subject? In this catalogue of strategies, the reader will find stories on hacker groups, gaming platforms in the occupied territories, art objects, selfies, augmented reality, Gen Z autoethnographies, love and life. The authors of this anthology believe we cannot simply put vanity aside. A rational analysis of platform capitalism is not going to convince the TikTok youngsters nor liberate us from Zuckerbergian indentured servitude. Do we really need to wade through the subjective mud and ‘learn more’ about online aesthetics? The answer is yes.

Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3030654990
• ISBN 13: 9783030654993
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Della Ratta Donatella, Lovink Geert, Numerico Teresa, Sarram Peter