Contemporary Publics : Shifting Boundaries in New Media, Technology and Culture

If the twentieth century has been dominated by discussions of the public, public life, and the public sphere, __Contemporary Publics__ argues that, in the twenty-first century, we must complicate the singularity of that paradigm and start thinking of our world in terms of multiple, overlapping, and competing __publics.__ In three distinct streams—art, media and technology, and the intimate life—this volume offers up the intellectual and political significance of thinking through the plurality of our publics. “Countering Neoliberal Publics: Screen and Space,” explores how different artistic practices articulate the challenges and desires of multiple publics. “Making and Shaping Publics: Discourse and Technology” showcases how media shape publics, and how new and emerging publics use these technologies to construct identities. “Commodifying Public Intimacies” examines what happens to the notion of the private when intimacies structure publics, move into public spaces, and develop value that can be exchanged and circulated. Acknowledgements 6 Contents 8 Contributors 12 List of Figures 16 chapter 1: Introduction: The Plurality of Publics 17 Public Uses: Deploying the Terms Public and Publics 19 Changing Boundaries: Privacy Becomes a Form of Public 23 Contemporary Publics 26 Bibliography 28 Part I: Countering Neoliberal Publics: Screen and Space 30 chapter 2: The Beach Beneath the Street: Art and Counterpublics 31 Bibliography 40 chapter 3: A Hungry Public: Stranger Relationality and the Blak Wave 41 Public Personhood 43 Addressing a Hungry Public 44 Belonging to a Hungry Public 46 The Blak Wave and Stranger Relationality in The Darkside 49 Strangerhood, Authenticity, and the Impasse 54 Bibliography 55 chapter 4: Re-membering, (Re-) appropriation, and Polyphony: SBS Independent and White Australian Memory 57 Introduction 57 SBSi and Productive Diversity 59 Countermemorialising White Australian Hegemony 62 Countermemorial Re-membering 63 Countermemorial (Re-) appropriation 66 Countermemorial Polyphony 68 Conclusion 70 Bibliography 71 chapter 5: Ghosting: Putting the Volume into Screen Memory 74 Notes 87 Bibliography 88 chapter 6: Dancing Dandenong: The Poetics of Spatial Politics 90 Introduction 90 Who Speaks for the Dancer? 94 Don’t Kill the Tree 98 Big Trouble for Little India 102 Coda 106 Note 107 Bibliography 107 chapter 7: New Strategies for Old Practices 109 Introduction: Strategy and Speculation 109 The Artefact, the Exhibition and the Artist 110 Profaning Old Masters 115 Free Campers, Swarms and Excommunication 119 Idle Time and Active Artists in Public Space 122 Notes 123 Bibliography 124 Part II: Making and Shaping Publics: Discourse and Technology 126 chapter 8: Media Technologies and Publics 127 Bibliography 136 chapter 9: Cosmopolitanism on Demand? Television and the Narrowing of Mediated Social Connection 139 Conditions of Cosmopolitanism 140 Television Beyond Borders 142 News, Flow, and Television 144 The Attention Economy and Personalisation 147 Conclusion 151 Bibliography 152 chapter 10: Multilingual Publics: Fansubbing Global TV 155 What’s the (Language) Difference? 157 The Viki Difference 161 Multilingual Publics 163 Conclusion 167 Notes 168 Bibliography 169 chapter 11: Surveillance Publics After Edward Snowden 173 Deepening the Surveillant Assemblage 175 Vectors of Surveillance 179 Surveillance Publics 183 Bibliography 188 chapter 12: Stoking Expectations: Public Relations and the Politics of “Bogans” 191 “Nobody Likes a Bogan” 194 Contemporary “Aussie” Publics: A Thorny Problem 196 Bogan Publics: Unculture and Politics 197 Anzac Day, Symbolism and Bogans 199 Political PR, Discourse and Anxiety 201 Conclusion: Creating New Taxonomies in PR 203 Notes 204 Bibliography 205 chapter 13: We Are Rhetoric. Get Over It! 208 Bibliography 221 Part III: Commodifying Public Intimacies 223 chapter 14: Making Cents of Contemporary Intimacies: The Private in the Public 224 Making Sense of Contemporary Intimacies: A Kiss, a Family Photo, Gay Marriage, and New Mothers 225 Making Cents: Commodifying Intimacies 231 Bibliography 234 chapter 15: When the Private Becomes Public: Commodity Activism, Endorsement, and Making Meaning in a Privatised World 236 Introduction 236 Public Dissent and Private to Privatised-Public Dissent 237 Commodity Activism and Its Relationship to the Neoliberal Self 241 Endorsement and Making Meaning in a Privatised‐Public World 244 Conclusion: A New Politics? A Contemporary Privlic 249 Bibliography 250 chapter 16: Elite Athletes as Charitable Ambassadors: Risks Associated with Indiscretions 253 The Path to Becoming a Charitable Ambassador 254 Challenges and Risk Assessment 255 Methodology 257 Grant Hackett OAM: Elite Athlete 258 Stephanie Rice OAM: Elite Athlete 260 Discussion 263 Conclusion 265 Notes 266 Bibliography 266 chapter 17: The Intimate Publics of Popular Music Memoirs: Strategies of Feeling in Celebrity Self-representation 272 Notes 284 Bibliography 285 chapter 18: Spirited Publics? Post-secularism, Enchantment and Enterprise on Indian Television 287 Lifestyle Pedagogy and Televisual Modernities in South and East Asia 289 Managing Fate, Fortune and Risk: Tele-Astrologers 290 “Meet Your Better Self”: Neo-spiritualism and Enterprise Culture 294 Governmentality and Beyond: Somatic Publics and “Magnified” Gurus 296 Conclusion: Post-secular Media Publics? 298 Notes 301 Bibliography 301 Index 304 If the twentieth century has been dominated by discussions of the public, public life, and the public sphere, Contemporary Publics argues that, in the twenty-first century, we must complicate the singularity of that paradigm and start thinking of our world in terms of multiple, overlapping, and competing publics. In three distinct streams--art, media and technology, and the intimate life--this volume offers up the intellectual and political significance of thinking through the plurality of our publics. "Countering Neoliberal Publics: Screen and Space," explores how different artistic practices articulate the challenges and desires of multiple publics. "Making and Shaping Publics: Discourse and Technology" showcases how media shape publics, and how new and emerging publics use these technologies to construct identities. "Commodifying Public Intimacies" examines what happens to the notion of the private when intimacies structure publics, move into public spaces, and develop value that can be exchanged and circulated. P. David Marshall holds a research professorship and personal chair in New Media, Communication and Cultural Studies at Deakin University, Australia and is also a Distinguished High-End Visiting Foreign Expert at Central China University's School of Journalism and Communication, China. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of many books including Celebrity and Power, 2nd Edition (2014), Companion to Celebrity (2015), Promotional Vistas (2016), and Persona Studies (2016). Glenn D'Cruz is a lecturer in Drama and Cultural Studies at Deakin University, Australia. He is the author of Midnight's Orphans: Anglo-Indians in Post/Colonial Literature (2006) and the editor of Class Act: Melbourne Workers Theatre 1987-2007(2007). He has published widely in national and international journals in the areas of literary studies, performance studies and cultural studies. Sharyn McDonald is a lecturer in Reputation Management and Marketing Communication at Deakin University, Australia. Her combined teaching and industry experience spans over 20 years and has strengthened her interdisciplinary approach to research. Sharyn's research focuses on social responsibility and issue management with a particular emphasis on non-government organisations. Katja Lee is a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow at Simon Fraser University, Canada and a member of the Persona, Celebrity, Publics Research Group at Deakin University, Australia. She has published essays on celebrity, public identity performance, and life writing, and is co-editor of Celebrity Cultures in Canada (forthcoming) Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction: The Plurality of Publics....Pages 1-13 Front Matter....Pages 15-15 The Beach Beneath the Street: Art and Counterpublics....Pages 17-26 A Hungry Public: Stranger Relationality and the Blak Wave....Pages 27-42 Re-membering, (Re-) appropriation, and Polyphony: SBS Independent and White Australian Memory....Pages 43-59 Ghosting: Putting the Volume into Screen Memory....Pages 61-76 Dancing Dandenong: The Poetics of Spatial Politics....Pages 77-95 New Strategies for Old Practices....Pages 97-113 Front Matter....Pages 115-115 Media Technologies and Publics....Pages 117-128 Cosmopolitanism on Demand? Television and the Narrowing of Mediated Social Connection....Pages 129-144 Multilingual Publics: Fansubbing Global TV....Pages 145-162 Surveillance Publics After Edward Snowden....Pages 163-180 Stoking Expectations: Public Relations and the Politics of “Bogans”....Pages 181-197 We Are Rhetoric. Get Over It!....Pages 199-213 Front Matter....Pages 215-215 Making Cents of Contemporary Intimacies: The Private in the Public....Pages 217-228 When the Private Becomes Public: Commodity Activism, Endorsement, and Making Meaning in a Privatised World....Pages 229-245 Elite Athletes as Charitable Ambassadors: Risks Associated with Indiscretions....Pages 247-265 The Intimate Publics of Popular Music Memoirs: Strategies of Feeling in Celebrity Self-representation....Pages 267-281 Spirited Publics? Post-secularism, Enchantment and Enterprise on Indian Television....Pages 283-299 Back Matter....Pages 301-312 "If the twentieth century has been dominated by discussions of the public, public life, and the public sphere, Contemporary Publics argues that, in the twenty-first century, we must complicate the singularity of that paradigm and start thinking of our world in terms of multiple, overlapping, and competing publics. In three distinct streams (art, media and technology, and the intimate life) this volume offers up the intellectual and political significance of thinking through the plurality of our publics. "Countering Neoliberal Publics: Screen and Space," explores how different artistic practices articulate the challenges and desires of multiple publics. "Making and Shaping Publics: Discourse and Technology" showcases how media shape publics, and how new and emerging publics use these technologies to construct identities. "Commodifying Public Intimacies" examines what happens to the notion of the private when intimacies structure publics, move into public spaces, and develop value that can be exchanged and circulated."-- Back cover Annotation If the twentieth century has beendominated by discussions of the public, public life, and the public sphere, Contemporary Publics argues that, in thetwenty-first century, we must complicate the singularity of that paradigm andstart thinking of our world in terms of multiple, overlapping, and competing publics. In three distinct streams--art, media and technology, and the intimate life--this volume offers up theintellectual and political significance of thinking through the plurality ofour publics. "Countering Neoliberal Publics: Screen and Space," explores howdifferent artistic practices articulate the challenges and desires of multiplepublics. "Making and Shaping Publics: Discourse and Technology" showcases howmedia shape publics, and how new and emerging publics use these technologies toconstruct identities. "Commodifying Public Intimacies" examines what happens tothe notion of the private when intimacies structure publics, move into publicspaces, and develop value that can be exchanged and circulated