Cyberculture and the Subaltern: Weavings of the Virtual and Real

by Radhika Gajjala

Overview

Cyberculture and the Subaltern: Weavings of the Virtual and Real, edited by Radhika Gajjala, maps how voice and silence shape online space in relation to offline actualities. Thus, it weaves the virtual and real in relation to so-called old and new technologies using globalization and technology as the frame for examination. Implicit in this investigation is the question of how offline actualities and online cultures are in turn shaped by online hierarchies, as well as different kinds of local access to global contexts. This book reveals the logic of particular global-local directions that emerge within digital, transnational capital and labor flows. To this end, the contributors to this volume examine various sites and intersections through critical lenses enabled by conversations and writings in subaltern studies, affect theory, postcolonial feminist theory, critical cultural studies, communication studies, critical development studies, and science and technology studies. Contexts explored in this collection include microfinance online, handloom contexts from India and Africa in relation to development discourse, new technologies, and virtual world marketing. Through actual auto-ethnographic engagement, Cyberculture and the Subaltern reveals the interdependence of the economic, political, cultural, and social in the production of the subaltern online.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739118535
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	11/21/2012
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 6.20(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Radhika Gajjala is professor of media and communication at Bowling Green State University.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Subaltern Empowerment, Socioeconomic Globalization, and Digital Divides
Radhika Gajjala
Chapter 1. Producing the Global: Microfinance Online
Radhika Gajjala, Franklin Nii Yartey, and Anca Birzescu
Chapter 2. Philanthropist or Investor? Microlending to the Other
Radhika Gajjala, Anca Birzescu, and Franklin Nii Yartey
Chapter 3. Snapshots from Sari Trails: Cyborgs Old and New
Radhika Gajjala, with Rad Zabibha
Chapter 4. Framing the Loom
Radhika Gajjala, Seemanthini Niranjana, and B. Syamasundari
Chapter 5. Kente Cloth and Adinkra in the Global Market
Precious Yamaguchi and Franklin Nii Yartey
Conclusion
Radhika Gajjala

What People are Saying About This

Gregory Seigworth

On-line/off-line, global/local, first world/third world, virtual/real, traditional/modern, and many more, this book reveals just how inadequate the old binaries (and quite a few of the new ones) have become. In an intricate set of weavings that stretch from handloom to Second Life, Radhika Gajjala and her various co-authors navigate the dense registers where voice and agency are always on the move, always to be made.

Editorial Reviews

On-line/off-line, global/local, first world/third world, virtual/real, traditional/modern, and many more, this book reveals just how inadequate the old binaries (and quite a few of the new ones) have become. In an intricate set of weavings that stretch from handloom to Second Life, Radhika Gajjala and her various co-authors navigate the dense registers where voice and agency are always on the move, always to be made.

Gregory Seigworth