Postcolonial media theory

Pg 62 – “Anyone who wears contact lenses, has an implant, or has a change is a cyborg.”

~ Whoa, that’s a big jump! But I guess the point is that anything that alters your natural self alters your identity, which, in a sense, is true. It goes back to the point that from birth one is exposed to numerous identities and cultures that one can either take part in or just be exposed to. If they take part in it then it alters their identity in a cyborg-like way.

Pg 64 – “Postcolonial studies and electronic media theory concur in challenging traditional understandings of identity as stable and singular. In both areas identity is conceptualized as multiple, contradictory, and even conflictive. Discussions of identity in postcolonial studies frequently involve collective identities: ethnic, national, gender. As in much post modern literary theory, discussions of identity in electronic media theory concentrate on the individual as author of his or her own identity. Thus, where electronic media theory stresses the present (moment of authorship), many postcolonial theorists view identity as rooted in specific historic pasts.”

~ Good explanation of postcolonial studies

Pg 64 – “…The psychologist Sherry Turkle views individual identity as “several versions of a document open in a computer screen where the user is able to move between them at will.” She emphasizes the ludic possibilities of virtual spaces for the construction of identity, as one can play with one’s identity and try out new ones. Participants in MUDs (multiple user domains) are authors not only of text but of themselves: “you are who you pretend to be.” Turkle’s writings remain largely uncritiqued in electronic media circles.”

~ I like this idea of several documents open on a computer screen. In fact, the whole computer is a person makes identity much easier to understand. The computer’s frame and parts are the body. The applications already installed are the global self. The history of applications installed and things done on those applications is the personal history. Each separate application is a separate identity. And they all work in coordination to accomplish a task. A computer getting a virus is like a person running into dissonance. This can be expanded more, too.

Pg 65 – “Thus, both postcolonial media studies and electronic media theory view identity as multiple and open-ended, but they differ drastically in focus. In postcolonial studies theories of identity emphasize the social – identities are historically rooted, open-ended, collective political projects. Electronic media theory gives primacy to the individual as the construction of identity is viewed as an opportunity for self-development and (re)creation.”

~ Might possibly want to research this more, too.
Fernandez, M. (1999). Postcolonial media theory. Art Journal, 58(3). Retrieved November 9, 2008, from JSTOR database.