new academic publication out: ‘red scare girlfriends’ and the ludic logic of online contrarianism
i like looking at my google scholar. it’s a list of what i’ve managed to contribute to the academic study of the internet while precariously juggling visas, residence permits and temporary teaching contracts, having no paid research time, writing and researching on the weekends, before breakfast and after work, in an out of the office, on trains, metros and waiting areas, while students are on break. i enjoy it and do it with pleasure, despite the challenges i have faced (important note: i also love teaching with all of my heart, not only because it’s a real job with real tasks but also because i get to talk to and learn from people younger than me). this work, is also, in part, an attempt to one day fulfil the ideal of what i think academic internet research should look like: relevant, timely, interesting, reflective of contemporary culture, honest but not boring.
doing research helps me achieve some sort of existential stability despite my circumstances. i try my best to do good academic research with whatever resources i have available, and i am proud of that work. many kind people have told me that my research has inspired them and while it’s sometimes disappointing to be an academic outsider and work in the peripheries of institutions (not the first or the last woman to be in this position), i get excited every time an academic text i have helped write is published. which brings me to my point today: a book chapter i co-authored with a dear friend and multi-hyphenate pool of talent Eleni Maragkou is finally out.
this project, called “Red Scare girlfriends: Language games with the Red Scare podcast or the ludic logic of online contrarianism”, was a deep dive into the subcultural ironics of a dark corner of the womanosphere: the red scare podcast. in the paper, we look at pinterest and reddit communities to make sense of red scare podcast and its affective publics’ contradictory political alliances, trolling behaviour, as well as the hosts’ niche microcelebrity status through the frame of “playing politics”. i believe it’s the first paper on this part of the internet. it’s a long read, but a good one.
