What's in a Smile? Politicizing Disability through Selfies and Affect. Issue 1 (5th December 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yadlin-Segal, Aya
• Is Part Of: Journal of computer-mediated communication. Volume 24:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 36
• Page End: 50
• Publication Date: 2018-12-05
• Subjects: Disability -- Online Advocacy -- Selfies -- Affect -- facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) -- Burden of Representation; Telematics -- Periodicals; Computer networks -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Communication -- Periodicals; 302.20285
• DOI: 10.1093/jcmc/zmy023
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1083-6101

Abstract

Abstract: This article focuses on selfies and empowerment of individuals with physical disabilities. By exploring the #FSHDselfies campaign as a case study, I discuss the role affect plays in mediated advocacy for the representation of non-normative bodies, allowing disabled individuals to gather as a community and disrupt contemporary beauty standards. I draw on the case study to re-articulate the term "community of affect" (Climo, 2001) as the socio-political structure that promotes marginalized groups' negotiation of collective identity and communal action geared towards cultural, social, and political change. This community can be seen as a sub-section or a specific discursive space categorized under "affective publics" (Papacharissi, 2014). I show in this context how participatory forms of representation open a space for negotiation and criticism of marginalized groups on the one hand, while oversimplifying the complex and diverse lives of minority groups on the other hand.