Stream - Inspiring Critical Thought (E-Journal)
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The Commodification of the Body Positive Movement on Instagram
Get PDFSince 2012 there has been a heightened presence of the body positive movement on Instagram. Women who occupy non-normative bodies use the platform to post selfies to challenge dominant ideals of feminine beauty, including the demands to produce smooth skin, adhere to body size norms, and avoid bodily fluids. This has been accompanied by a barrage of media outlets advising their readers on the top body positive accounts they need in their life to boost their body confidence, and how to be body positive on Instagram for more self-love (Irish Examiner, 2016; Burke 2015; Vino, 2015; O'Reilly, 2016). News media circulated articles across social media platforms with stories heralding women who, through the use of selfies, open up about their experiences with eating disorders, shut body shamers down, challenge "bikini body" myths, and confront expectations directed at women's post-pregnancy bodies. Women who share the same experiences of and frustration with dominant ideals of femininity have identified with and participated in this movement through the use of body-positive hash tags, captions, and subject matter. However, as the popularity of the body positive movement and the influence of advocates grew, corporations began commoditizing the body positive advocates and using their influence to push products, capitalizing off of the movement. During the commodification process, the body positive advocates lose sight of their purpose and reproduce dominant capitalist ideologies, objectify their own bodies, and accept beauty modification practices
PHD Defence: "Federal Arts Policy 1957-2014" by Duncan Low
No full textOur dear colleague, Duncan Low, will defend his PHD Dissertation on Friday, September 23rd 2016 at Harbor Center Room 1600 (10:00 am - 1:00 pm). Here is the abstract of his dissertation "Federal Arts Policy 1957-2014: The Rhetoric & the Reality"
MA Defence: "Communicating Communes" by Didi Han
No full textOur dear colleague, Didi Han, will defend her MA Thesis on Monday, September 8th 2016 at Harbor Center Room 2250 (10:00 am - 12:00 pm). Here is the abstract of her thesis "Communicating Communes: A Case Study of Urban Communing Movement in South Korea"
Alighting the Milkmen, Bridegrooms, and Vagabonds: On Capital and Language
Get PDFFrom the “thunderous denunciations” of mass culture by the Frankfurt School to the ambivalence of Habermas towards mass media, it has been argued that we have moved from culture-debating to culture-consuming publics (Peters, 1993). We have abandoned the coffee house in favour of grumpy cats and lulz. Furthermore, our societal damnation has only been reaffirmed and deepened by a move towards a form of cognitive capitalism. Berardi (2011) and Marazzi (1994), in their respective work on the politics of the language economy, have suggested that cognitive capitalism has given life to a new form of crisis; the crisis of capital today is not merely economic, it also a crisis of the social imagination, and language and discourse is political. It can be enclosed by capital. However, to stop our analysis there is not only pessimistic but also fails to see the emancipatory potential within language and our media systems. Although language and discourse can be enclosed by capital, I would argue it can never fully be co-opted. While media, especially the online sphere, are full of obfuscating pomp and trolling harangues, there remains a potential critical spark in the culture and poetry of everyday language. Echoing Stuart Hall, it is the extent to which popular culture and technology are sites of contestation and the degree to which they can be mobilized to destabilize systems of domination that they matter: “Otherwise, to tell you the truth, I don’t give a damn about it” (Hall, 1998). This paper will investigate the critical spark that language and popular culture can offer in an era of cognitive-capitalism—and who knows, maybe we’ll have a few lulz along the way
Urban Prophets: Creating Graffiti as a Means of Negotiating the Constructs of Urban Public Spaces
Get PDFFor this examination, graffiti and neo-graffiti have been compared to public art in order to reveal the ideological constructions of urban public spaces. How does graffiti interact with the construction of urban public spaces? How is graffiti similar to and different from public art? Which of these art forms better represents the public and city living? By comparing public art to (neo)graffiti in Toronto, Ontario and Los Angeles, California, the gendered, racialized, and class-based exclusions present in R. Florida's (2002) creative cities framework as theorized by authors such as N. Smith (1996), Sharon Zukin (1996), and G. Standing (2011) can be revealed. Urban public spaces are carefully shaped by those in control, the government and corporations, with the intention of creating spaces and citizens within those spaces that can be a functioning part of their neoliberal capitalist system. Graffiti and neo-graffiti act as a visual interruption to this system, which in turn can be thought of as physically represented by public art. In this way (neo)graffiti is created by a minority of citizens with the hopes of reclaiming their right to exist in urban public spaces despite layers of ideological exclusions.For this examination, graffiti and neo-graffiti have been compared to public art in order to reveal the ideological constructions of urban public spaces. How does graffiti interact with the construction of urban public spaces? How is graffiti similar to and different from public art? Which of these art forms better represents the public and city living? By comparing public art (neo)graffiti in Toronto, Ontario and Los Angeles California, the racialized and class-based exclusions present in R. Florida’s (2002) creative cities framework theorized by authors such as N. Smith (1996), Sharon Zukin (1996), and G. Standing (2011) can be revealed. Urban public spaces are carefully shaped by those in control (the government and corporations) with the intention of creating spaces and citizens within those spaces that can be a functioning part of their system. Graffiti and neo-graffiti act as a visual interruption to this system as represented by public art. In this way (neo)graffiti is created by a minority of citizens with the hopes of reclaiming their right to exist in urban public spaces despite the layers of exclusions
MA Defence: “Disconnected realities: An analysis of the DrugsNot4Me campaign and its impact on street-involved youth in Vancouver, Canada†by Lianlian Ti
Get PDFOur dear colleague, Lianlian Ti, will defend her MA Thesis on Friday, April 15, 2016 at Harbour Centre, Room 1520 (10:00 am - 12:00 pm). Here is the abstract of her thesis “Disconnected realities: An analysis of the DrugNot4Me campaign and its impact on street-involved youth in Vancouver, Canada"
Public Event: The Marriott Cell: A Conversation With Mohamed Fahmy
No full textAdel Iskandar will engage Mohamed Fahmy on a wide range of critical issues including revolution, incarceration, Al-Jazeera, Islamist politics, and press freedoms. The event is on Tuesday, November 29, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at SFU Harbour Centre in room 1900.The event is co-sponsored by SFU's Institute for the Humanities, Global Communication MA Double Degree, School of Communication, Centre for Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures (CCSMSC), School of International Studies (SIS), and The Media Democracy Project.For more details, please see the pdf poster attached
School of Communication's Graduate Critical Studies Conference
No full textSchool of Communication's annual Graduate Critical Studies Conference will take place this Friday, April 29th and Saturday, April 30th at Harbour Centre, Room 2945. The theme this year is "Dialectics of Space: Enclosure and Resistance." The Keynote Lecture will be by David McNally: “Spatial Dialectics: Capital, Enclosure, Emancipation” (Friday April 29th, 2:00-3:15pm, Harbour Centre 2945) To reserve your ticket, register here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/myevent?eid=24942163683 There will also be a Public Lecture by Maurizio Lazzarato, titled “Financialization and War: Race, Class, Gender and Subjectivity” on Friday April 29th, 7:00-9:00pm, Harbour Centre 1800.Faculty, staff, graduate students, undergraduate students, and members of the general public are all encouraged to attend. For more details, please see the program attached
Musical Artists Capitalizing on Hybrid Identities: A Case Study of Drake the "Authentic" "Black" "Canadian" "Rapper"
Get PDFThis study is an exploration of identity politics through an examination of the ways in which musical artists use the medium of music videos to create marketable, hybrid identities. With the rise of social media and the online consumption of information, music videos play a central role in global, cultural flows. I argue that hybrid identities are constructed by musical artists to gain popularity through the form of ethno-marketing. I include literature surrounding diaspora and hybridity to understand how hybrid identities become a production of heritage and human capital. By utilizing music videos specifically to construct their hybrid identities, musical artists are simultaneously enforcing and being subjected to economic, cultural, and political forms of exploitation. My methodology draws upon a multimodal discourse analysis (LeVine & Scollon, 2004) which assesses how meaning is made through the use of multiple modes of communication. I apply multimodality to the construction of music videos in which musical artists selectively chose particular sounds, images, and lyrics to claim specific identities. As articulated through the case study of Drake, I examine how the multimodal affordances of music videos allow artists to transcend borders within the digital age and reach a large audience. This study examines Drake’s bricolage of complex and intersectional identities and his unique privilege to choose to identify with different marginal communities. I assess how Drake capitalizes on shared experiences and struggles of different cultural, national, and class backgrounds though three of his music videos: “HYFR (Hell Yeah Fuckin’ Right)” (2011), “Started From The Bottom” (2011), and “Worst Behavior” (2013). Drake alludes to different cultures, locations, and social identities through these music videos to construct his place as a rapper in the music industry and articulates a hybrid identity as an “Authentic” Black/ Jewish, American/Canadian, working class member of society, and high-class rapper.
 
Public Event: CPROST seminar: Canadian Science Technology and Innovation Policy
No full textThe Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology hosted Dr. Peter Phillips for a seminar on on his recent work on Canadian science, technology and innovation policy. He is currently part of a nation-wide study on the digital industries in Canada, titled “Creating Digital Opportunity.”The event took place at Harbour Centre, on September 19. Please see the attached poster for details