Performances of Marginalized Identities in Virtual Worlds

This dissertation explores performances of identities in virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft and Second Life. While virtual worlds are popularly imagined as spaces where any performances of identity are possible and welcomed, constraints of both design and culture create a dominant or preferred performance of identity in online spaces. This project specifically focuses on performances of identity that do not fit in with an idealized standard of appearance or behavior in avatar bodies. The question that drives my research asks how technology might enable and constrain constructions and presentation of virtual identities. I analyze the discourse of three distinct groups: A pacifist guild in World of Warcraft; a wheelchair dance club in Second Life; and an autistic advocacy group in Second Life. I use Burke’s cluster criticism as a method of discourse analysis, applied to texts from their websites and visual aspects of their virtual spaces, to understand how their performances participate in or resist normative identities and explore the rhetorical implications of resisting the preferred identity. Foucault’s notion of power functions as a primary theoretical orientation. While each of these groups resisted the dominant performances of identity, they each had different rhetorical strategies and purposes for performing marginalized identities. Enacting resistance involves a complex performance that requires a keen understanding of the dominant ideologies of the culture and depends on the goals of the group. This project highlights the difficulties of maintaining a performance that openly resists the preferred performance of identity and the power relations that create these cultural norms.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication Studies (Communication)

Grantor dc:publisher

Ohio University

Year dc:date

2012

Author dc:creator

• Calka, Michelle

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bates, Benjamin

• Communication
• virtual worlds
• avatars
• identity performance

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1344522664

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:ohiou1344522664