Journal Articles

Diaosi as infrapolitics: scatological tropes, identity-making and cultural intimacy on China’s Internet

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This article examines a recent bizarre phenomenon on China’s Internet – the enormous popularity of a scatological Chinese neologism called diaosi, which literally translates as ‘dick string’. Seeing the diaosi phenomenon as a case of ‘infrapolitics’, a space of nuanced discursive practices mediating overt online politics and benign online entertainment, we analyse the ways in which an infrapolitical practice such as the diaosi phenomenon fuses political critique, cultural processes of identity construction and meaning-making as well as cyber ritual communion. Specifically, we interpret the infrapolitics of diaosi as simultaneously an instantiation of a prevalent scatological online culture that defies hypernormalization, a collective identity-making that seeks to create critical social solidarity and a practice and politics of cultural intimacy.

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Detail Information

Series Title

Media Culture & Society

Call Number

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Publisher

Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications., 2015

Collation

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Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

0163-4437

Classification

NONE

Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

Volume 37, Issue 2 March 2015, pages 197-214

Subject(s)

Cultural intimacy
Diaosi
Identity-making
Internet culture

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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