Procrastiprogress updates from the cave VII.

Posted on by wishcrys
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Moshimoshi folks,

How has your 2016 been? This is the last procrastiprogress update for the year!

It’s been a bumper crop year for me in terms of academic writing despite the most challenging year of my life so far, so please allow me to revel in the sense of satisfaction with this post as I round up my newest words.

In 2017 I will be focusing on finishing up a few sole-authored, co-authored, and co-edited monographs as I continue writing here at wishcrys and on Cyborgology, and editing for PopAnth. I will also be embarking on new research projects on the commodification of weddings in East Asia with the Department of Sociology at NUS, on digital folklore with the Asia Research Institute, and on Influencers in Sweden with the Swedish Retail and Wholesale Council.

If our research interests intersect and you’d like to chat, please feel free to write to me. 2017 is set to be looking very exciting – I can’t wait to throw myself into fieldwork again.

Hope your Christmas was wonderful; I spent mine among my favourite people, across homes, and on beaches. Have a lovely New Year!

Over and out,
wishcrys. Continue reading Procrastiprogress updates from the cave VII.

Sydney in December.

Posted on by wishcrys
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Moshimoshi folks,

I am giving a few talks at various events in Sydney this December. If you’re in town, please come by to say hi!

I’m presenting preliminary findings from two new projects for the first time – one on young people and grief on the internet, and the other on discursive networks on Tumblr. I’m also presenting more of my work on Influencers, this time focusing on the economy of fake goods. If you’re working in similar areas, I’d love to chat. Continue reading Sydney in December.

Remembering care in times of academic rejection.

Posted on by wishcrys
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At the risk of committing yet another academic faux pas, I want to talk about the running monologue in my head when I received my latest academic rejection yesterday afternoon.

It is 0029hrs and I haven’t slept in a billion years but I need to affectdump all the disappointment I am holding inside my body, so that I can offload it from my brain, make sense of it some other time, let it go now, and go to sleep.

So, this is going to be long. Continue reading Remembering care in times of academic rejection.

From Subversive Frivolity to Normativity: A lineage of Trump memes

Posted on by wishcrys
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The internet has been saturated with Trump memes. Some times they are hilarious, some times they are hurtful. Some times they bring relief, some times they are agonizing. This post is a product of my observations and archive of Trump memes and their evolving power from “subversive frivolity” to “normativity”. I demonstrate how Trump memes have transited along a continuum as: attention fodder, subversive frivolity, the new normal, and popular culture.

Screengrabs with the black header were archived from the mobile app version of 9gag on 8 November 2016, around 0001hrs, GMT+8 time. They include all the posts tagged “Trump”, with the earliest backdating to 14 weeks. There were 141 original memes in total but a handful have been omitted from this post. Screengrabs without the black header were archived from various news sites and social media throughout the Election season.

Continue reading From Subversive Frivolity to Normativity: A lineage of Trump memes

Things a Singaporean appreciates about the US Presidential Elections.

Posted on by wishcrys
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I am a Singaporean woman in my late 20s. To date, I have closely followed x03 US Presidential Elections, x02 SG General Elections, and x01 SG Presidential Elections. This post is not about the Election results, but rather the differences in my experiences of consuming the electoral proceedings between the US and in Singapore. Although there are some similarities between the first world, developed, economically stable, culturally diverse, migrant populace, allied countries, these elements stand out to me: Continue reading Things a Singaporean appreciates about the US Presidential Elections.