When we consider the arguments of Barney’s “The Vanishing Table, or Community in a World that is No World” and Malapragada’s “Home, homeland, homepage: belonging and the Indian-American web” we can see the complicated nature of digital communities. For one, Barny compares the artificial turf dome to the neighbourhood baseball field, in order to articulate the artificiality of digital communities as oppose to real communities. Barny knows that digital technologies threaten community relationships, yet in Malapragada’s work he believes that the web transforms the hegemonic identities of
It appears that Barney and Malapragada contradict themselves, perhaps it is true that the web disrupts community and essentially alienates people. But for a community that would have no relation to their home, without the web or technology it still informs them of their past while allowing them to negotiate their identity within the western world or technology itself. Malapragada articulates that “World Wide Web is transgressing ‘real’ and symbolic borders around the ‘private’ household and the ‘public’ homeland” (207).
As we’ve seen in Kraidy, hybridity is a part of modernity and cultural evolution. There is no culture or ethnicity that has not borrowed from another culture. So the
Great post Kait! I also noticed the contradictions between the arguments of Barney and Mallapragada, and while they both have plausible reasons to justify their views, I think you are right that online communities can exist and work in certain settings. I do not know enough about online communities to make a definitive stance, and authors from both poles have valid arguments. On the one hand, I think belonging to a virtual community can produce a sense of belonging but not one as strong as a face-to-face community. On the other hand, as Kait mentioned, for people (such as Indian-Americans), the web provides the best way to foster a needed community across a great distance. I think this will be an interesting topic that will continually be debated for a long time!
ReplyDeleteYes, Kait, sometimes there is no choice but to build online communities. And Barney didn't deny the existing of online community, he only wanted to say that this form of interaction impoverished the real meaning of community, as was discussed in Sophie's post of this week.
ReplyDeleteI would argue that the connection is stronger in online communities because you have the ability to connect, engage, and interact with them much more consistently than in an offline world. Offline you must call a neighbour, see if they are available, work around work schedules, find a time that works for your group, etc.
ReplyDeleteHASSLE.
Online however, someone is always available. Just look at the popularization of WoW communities!