About the seminar
Tit-for-Tat Media examines a visual-sexual turn in social media discourses in the field of online activism with a particular focus on the extraordinary protest years of 2018-2020. The book presents a socially engaged theory and includes case-studies on activist movements such as the Euro-American alt-right, the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, and revolutionary artists in China. It reveals how visual cultures, including gendered or sexualized imagery, are utilised to influence public perception. The talk will zoom in on the role of sex-focused visuals used during the Hong Kong Anti-Extradition movement of 2019 and coinciding with a radicalized “laam chau” doctrine. (“If we burn, you will burn with us”). It will outline the wider techno-political contexts of these visuals and also make a plea for archiving and studying them despite their highly contentious and ephemeral nature. It will discuss research methods of “historicizing” and “humanizing” social media visuals by positioning them as catalysts for geo-political transformations and sex/gender justice. It will also ponder a shift in a researcher’s methods of online ethnography from open and affective encounters or observations towards a cautious handling of highly polarized and politicized materials.
Venue
- online: https://teams.microsoft.com/registration/3hyB1-_sbEmPkaF4YkG5nA,OjWm1ICrgUWiRDBCbeZ5fw,F1Dm7yMhBUCTFq4zIOqs1Q,Wu3QeJpnOUyQpSTw4PSJDQ,sCqyp3xylUqP87c5xu1cyQ,nwdJl57nOUCdi9deQxl6eA?mode=read&tenantId=d7811cde-ecef-496c-8f91-a1786241b99c
- on-campus: Faculteitzaal, Blandijnberg 2 (1st floor), Ghent, 9000, Belgium
Time
12:00pm – 13:30 pm (CET), 25 May 2023
About the speaker
Katrien Jacobs is Adjunct Associate Professor in Cultural Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Research Associate in the Department of Languages and Cultures at the University of Ghent. Jacobs has lectured and published widely about sexuality and gender in and around digital media, contemporary arts and online activism. She received several Hong Kong government-funded GRF grants and authored four books about Internet culture and gender/sexuality. Jacobs is also an artist-scholar who has produced documentaries and performance art pieces alongside her academic and ethnographic fieldwork, which can be accessed on www.katrienjacobs.com