Daniel Tsang. “Notes on Queer ‘N’ Asian Virtual Sex.”
Reader.
In “Notes on Queer ‘N’ Asian Virtual Sex” by Daniel
Tsang, he explains that the Bulletin Board System (BBS) has opened a door to
exploring sexuality. But first, what is the BBS?
The website, BBS Corner states,
“Think of a Bulletin Board System (BBS) like you
do the Internet, but on a much smaller scale. It is a self-contained online
community that is operated by a System Operator (Sysop) and provides activities
such as Message Forums, Shareware Files, E-mail and Online Games. Think of it
as almost like a miniature Facebook. Before the Internet, you would
"dial" a BBS system using an analog dial-up modem. Most modern BBS
systems have transitioned to using a process called Telnet which uses the
Internet to access BBS systems.”
The BBS is an earlier form of social media, but
not as international like Facebook. With a smaller online community, people
found each other more easily. So, it is a way to connect to people in one’s
community. Also, the forum allows a sense of security and anonymous identity to
the users. Tsang explains that with the BBS, many users state that they are “just
coming out” and “few identify as straight” (434). These users are able to
freely express their sexuality without feeling threatened and are able to talk
about being gay or even meeting in person.
Tsang also talks about the stereotypical image of a
gay Asian man as feminine, submissive, and a “rice queen”.
Facebook is one of the most internationally
visited social networking sites and a college student’s haven for
procrastination. Similarly to Tsang’s arguments of privacy, there has been and
there continues to be many controversial issues involving too much information
being released on facebook; pictures or private information on public. And one’s
information can be sold to markets.
Questions:
1. What is the relationship between identity and
cyberspace? In other words, describe how social media or virtual communities
can influence or construct one’s identity.
-
With technology and social media, the experiences
and stories of the queer community can have a global impact.
“The Queer Culture & Social Media Study is a
documentary project that has been ongoing for two years and continues to expand
and explore the relationship between queer social media use in community
development and identity exploration.
Following the conversation of 45 individuals from
across the queer non-heteronormative spectrum in the United States and abroad
the study continues to unveil vital information in understanding a shift in
cultural landscapes.”
- A Queer Culture & Social Media Study (http://qcsms.tumblr.com/)
Mapping Networks of Support
for the Zapatista Movement
The Zapatista movement is an indigenous peasant movement based in Mexico that seems to epitomize global communication and the use of the internet as a grassroots politics mobilizing tool. Their debut moment was on January 1, 1994, when "...an army of about three thousand indigenous peasants united under the banner of Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (ESLN)" (McCaughey 165), on the same day that the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA took effect. The Zapatista movement's phenomenal success is attributed to its use of social networks on the internet. The article seeks to "map out" the networks that the Zapatista movement uses.
First of all, the success of the Zapatista movement through social networking has been due to new communication structures brought about by the restructuring of power going on since the end of the cold war. The article states that "power has been redistributed among actors that until recently had no significant presence in the international public arena" (McCaughey 166), essentially letting marginalized groups have more international presence to bring attention to their issues, which is possible due to two factors: "...globalization, which has fostered a relative decline of the power of states while nourishing the rise and strength of non-state actors," and "...a telecommunications revolution [that] has facilitated the exchange of information among underrepresented groups in society and has opened alternative spaces wherein these groups can make their voice heard by the international community" (McCaughey 165). From globalization and telecommunications revolutions there has been the development of information technology such as the internet, which is used by nongovernmental organizations to not only facilitate a social movement but to also seek out other movements to act in solidarity with.
The Zapatista movement has used such information technology to mobilize and connect with allies. Their strategy is to "...exploit new communications technologies to create global relationships" (McCaughey 169), which they accomplish by having hyperlinks to a diverse range of allies' websites on their homepage, which indicates their relationship with other non-government organizations or movements. According to the study, Zapatista-related sites are "central to global NGO networks and help to bind them together" (McCaughey 181) as without the Zapatista-related sites, the networks would not be as connected, marking the Zapatista movement as an important figure in the internet.
The Zapatista movement, as a pioneer of mobilizing through social networks via the internet, can be considered "...a new type of transnational social movement emerging in the global order to counter globally defined threats and the shrinking of national political action spaces" (McCaughey 171) and shares many similarities to the examples of global grassroots politics in the Michael Peter Smith article. However, the examples given are primarily of transnational migrants, while the Zapatista focuses on indigenous people's rights in Mexico, is very militant, and disseminates information about the indigenous peoples' plight through the internet. This may just be a technical disparity, and the Zapatista movement may very well be considered "global grassroots politics." The Zapatista movement fits the "thinking locally while acting globally" model, it is localized around the indigenous people of Mexico and the political arena that they have chosen to pursue their objectives is global, the internet (Smith 25).
Questions:
1.) Do you think that there are currently any transnational social movements that match the sheer scope and success of the Zapatista movement? If so, are they primarily using the internet?
2.) Do you think that the internet and social networking sites are a good resource for alternative information and social movement mobilization? For example, sites such as angryasiangirlsunited.tumblr.com provide a safe space for Asian women to vent frustrations of microaggressions and outright harassment, find information about current events in the transnational Asian community, and appreciate themselves. Could something like this be considered a social movement?
The Zapatista movement is an indigenous peasant movement based in Mexico that seems to epitomize global communication and the use of the internet as a grassroots politics mobilizing tool. Their debut moment was on January 1, 1994, when "...an army of about three thousand indigenous peasants united under the banner of Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (ESLN)" (McCaughey 165), on the same day that the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA took effect. The Zapatista movement's phenomenal success is attributed to its use of social networks on the internet. The article seeks to "map out" the networks that the Zapatista movement uses.
First of all, the success of the Zapatista movement through social networking has been due to new communication structures brought about by the restructuring of power going on since the end of the cold war. The article states that "power has been redistributed among actors that until recently had no significant presence in the international public arena" (McCaughey 166), essentially letting marginalized groups have more international presence to bring attention to their issues, which is possible due to two factors: "...globalization, which has fostered a relative decline of the power of states while nourishing the rise and strength of non-state actors," and "...a telecommunications revolution [that] has facilitated the exchange of information among underrepresented groups in society and has opened alternative spaces wherein these groups can make their voice heard by the international community" (McCaughey 165). From globalization and telecommunications revolutions there has been the development of information technology such as the internet, which is used by nongovernmental organizations to not only facilitate a social movement but to also seek out other movements to act in solidarity with.
The Zapatista movement has used such information technology to mobilize and connect with allies. Their strategy is to "...exploit new communications technologies to create global relationships" (McCaughey 169), which they accomplish by having hyperlinks to a diverse range of allies' websites on their homepage, which indicates their relationship with other non-government organizations or movements. According to the study, Zapatista-related sites are "central to global NGO networks and help to bind them together" (McCaughey 181) as without the Zapatista-related sites, the networks would not be as connected, marking the Zapatista movement as an important figure in the internet.
The Zapatista movement, as a pioneer of mobilizing through social networks via the internet, can be considered "...a new type of transnational social movement emerging in the global order to counter globally defined threats and the shrinking of national political action spaces" (McCaughey 171) and shares many similarities to the examples of global grassroots politics in the Michael Peter Smith article. However, the examples given are primarily of transnational migrants, while the Zapatista focuses on indigenous people's rights in Mexico, is very militant, and disseminates information about the indigenous peoples' plight through the internet. This may just be a technical disparity, and the Zapatista movement may very well be considered "global grassroots politics." The Zapatista movement fits the "thinking locally while acting globally" model, it is localized around the indigenous people of Mexico and the political arena that they have chosen to pursue their objectives is global, the internet (Smith 25).
Questions:
1.) Do you think that there are currently any transnational social movements that match the sheer scope and success of the Zapatista movement? If so, are they primarily using the internet?
2.) Do you think that the internet and social networking sites are a good resource for alternative information and social movement mobilization? For example, sites such as angryasiangirlsunited.tumblr.com provide a safe space for Asian women to vent frustrations of microaggressions and outright harassment, find information about current events in the transnational Asian community, and appreciate themselves. Could something like this be considered a social movement?
Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde. “Social Transformations from
Virtual Communities”. Transnationalizing
Viet Nam.
After the Vietnam War, many
Vietnamese refugees and families fled to other countries, especially the United
States, to start their new lives away from the new regime. There were hardly
any advanced technology or Internet users in Vietnam at the time to communicate
their relatives in new countries, but two people, Hoanh Tran and Tin Le,
created their own information communication technology (ICT) called VNForum,
which allowed the Vietnamese community in Vietnam and America to interact. It
transcended the restricted borders between the two nations, and spread
politics, beliefs, and feelings to each other. It was not easy to create the ICT
because of the slow technology growth and the Vietnamese government feared the
overseas Vietnamese anticommunists’ political beliefs that would undermine
their control. The Vietnamese lacked the enthusiasm and knowledge of what ICT
could do to advance the country in technology. The anticommunists, on the other
hand, wanted to insult the Vietnamese government and tried to shut some of the ICT
development down. Rob Hurle, a computer expert, was aware of the
anticommunists’ feelings, which objected to any aids that would help advance
Vietnam (Valverde, 72). Although there were struggles to maintain the networks,
there were some people who created a safe virtual space for the people to
freely connect and share their thoughts and news in both nations.
Tin Le and Hoanh Tran created
VNForums, which its popularity skyrocketed since they established rules on
membership and communication to make the environment safe. Many people
subscribed and talked about the issues, especially granting the overseas
Vietnamese people more rights in Vietnam. This communication affected the
community to start projects and fight for overseas rights. One example is the
Vietnamese government slowly gave way to allow overseas Vietnamese to obtain
citizenship and ownership of land, but with many requirements that revolves
around their loyalties and contributions to the nation. Another example is
Thuyen Nguyen’s No-Nike campaign, which led to many Vietnamese Americans
boycotting Nike and making the factories change their ways and stop abusing the
workers. Lastly, inspired by VNForum, Hoanh Tran created VNBiz for members to
talk about economic and business issues that could help Vietnamese businesses
thrive, and Dot Chuoi Non for members to talk freely about ways to improve Vietnam on social and political stances. These types of ICT helped
Vietnam improve and the people spread the news and topics overseas.
ICT types like VNForums, VNBiz, and
Dot Chuoi Non are one of the great influences for activism where many people
would start projects that affect the government and the community. It
transcends the boundaries between the nations and becomes a virtual Vietnamese
diasporic community. The overseas and national Vietnamese people post up issues
and news and read comments that would either agree, disagree, or have solutions
to the problems in a safer environment. It would spread to not only the
citizens, but also capture the Vietnamese government’s eyes on improving the
nation. ICT is an important development for the nations to consider using
because information from different areas of the world would help them advance
and become successful. It also helps people communicate with others and
understand what is happening in their homelands. ICT does not have to have to be just
blogs or e-mails, but it can also be in forms of videos or social networks
(i.e. Twitter, Facebook). The video (below) shows two people in Indonesia who
experimented their lives in following a Nike worker’s lifestyle on the wages
they received. They also showed how the workers were abused in the factories
and how the Indonesian people were trying to fight against the mistreatment.
This video had many commentators who sympathize with the people and dislike
what was going on. ICT is one of the many ways to communicate and show news in
other countries and spread the news to inform and/or try to make changes. If we
want to be in the world and make changes, we must communicate with the world.
Citation: Nike Sweatshops: Behind the Swoosh. 28 Jul. 2011. Youtube. 28 Feb. 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5uYCWVfuPQ
Questions:
1) How much information/news do you receive about the world in social networks (i.e. Facebook, Twitter)? Based on your answer, would you consider social networks as a useful ICT to spread news? Why or why not?
2) Do you see ICT as a nation-building project? Give an example and explain how it would help improve the nation.
3) As Vietnam slowly improves on its technology and communication, will they catch up to First World countries? Why or why not? What will it take to do so?
4) Tin Le and Hoanh Tran had to filter out the extreme anticommunists' comments and other flames to make a safe environment for the members to talk about issues in Vietnam. What do you think about their actions and decisions? Do you think it was right to exclude them from this virtual community?
By: Shantal, Jillian, and Marryanne
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