2018 Conference Objects and Reports

Feminists on Facebook: an Ontology of Assemblages for Digital Platforms of Resistance

Bratnober, Caro

Lesbian-feminist identity and collective feminist spirituality has become a catalyst for activism in the current political climate. The recent #metoo movements and the Women’s Marches have been visible sites of resistance. However, the digital space of data-driven social media has become a hostile environment, and one which we should be happy to vacate, as private-owned platforms increasingly serve only to enrich the capitalist-hetero-patriarchically wealthy, in contrast to feminist ideals. The lead-up to, and fallout from, the 2016 presidential election revealed massively problematic ethical vacuums on social media platforms such as Facebook in terms of user-privacy, manipulating targeted advertising, and the vague concept of "fake news." How, then, to model and enact our lesbian identity online using such platforms? This paper elaborates on the ontology of linked-data, utilize Jasbir Puar's framework of queer “assemblages,” and offer solutions that move away from taxonomical identity-based thinking using information-science methodologies, and ultimately towards an ontological theology of assemblages directed at resistance activism in the digital age.