This thesis project explores the phenomenological qualities of the internet; asking, since the internet is difficult to grasp, what other modes of investigation might we have available? Using an investigative framework set forth by Jack Halberstam, this thesis declines to come to knowledge solely through understanding the formal, the structural, the highly visible and mainstream. The literature that I have gathered provides a range of modes for interrogating the simultaneously central and inconsequential subject of my thesis itself: the potato. Juxtaposing the physical, political and material conditions of the potato the internet’s least academic mode of knowing: the meme. Analyzing the potato alongside the meme allows us to discuss the role of the mundane among the proposed modes of investigation.
","abstract_html":"<p>This thesis project explores the phenomenological qualities of the internet; asking, since the internet is difficult to grasp, what other modes of investigation might we have available? Using an investigative framework set forth by Jack Halberstam, this thesis declines to come to knowledge solely through understanding the formal, the structural, the highly visible and mainstream. The literature that I have gathered provides a range of modes for interrogating the simultaneously central and inconsequential subject of my thesis itself: the potato. Juxtaposing the physical, political and material conditions of the potato the internet’s least academic mode of knowing: the meme. Analyzing the potato alongside the meme allows us to discuss the role of the mundane among the proposed modes of investigation.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Evers, Candice"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Illustration & Visual Culture","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Graduate School of Art","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-05-19T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2022-05-19T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:12:17Z","subjects":["potato","meme","internet","platforms","information economy","attention economy","American Material Culture","American Popular Culture","Art and Design","Communication Technology and New Media","Critical and Cultural Studies","Illustration","Infrastructure","International Relations","Mass Communication","Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies","Other Film and Media Studies","Political Theory","Reading and Language","Social Justice","Social Media","Speech and Rhetorical Studies","Visual Studies"],"languages":["English"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.7936/ezvn-mr53"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://doi.org/10.7936/ezvn-mr53","href":"https://doi.org/10.7936/ezvn-mr53","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_illustration/11","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Evers, Candice"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-05-19T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Graduate School of Art"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Illustration & Visual Culture"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["potato","meme","internet","platforms","information economy","attention economy","American Material Culture","American Popular Culture","Art and Design","Communication Technology and New Media","Critical and Cultural Studies","Illustration","Infrastructure","International Relations","Mass Communication","Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies","Other Film and Media Studies","Political Theory","Reading and Language","Social Justice","Social Media","Speech and Rhetorical Studies","Visual Studies"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_illustration/11"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.7936/ezvn-mr53"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis project explores the phenomenological qualities of the internet; asking, since the internet is difficult to grasp, what other modes of investigation might we have available? Using an investigative framework set forth by Jack Halberstam, this thesis declines to come to knowledge solely through understanding the formal, the structural, the highly visible and mainstream. The literature that I have gathered provides a range of modes for interrogating the simultaneously central and inconsequential subject of my thesis itself: the potato. Juxtaposing the physical, political and material conditions of the potato the internet’s least academic mode of knowing: the meme. Analyzing the potato alongside the meme allows us to discuss the role of the mundane among the proposed modes of investigation.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Because Potato"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Evers, Candice"],"dc:date.available":["2022-05-19T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis project explores the phenomenological qualities of the internet; asking, since the internet is difficult to grasp, what other modes of investigation might we have available? Using an investigative framework set forth by Jack Halberstam, this thesis declines to come to knowledge solely through understanding the formal, the structural, the highly visible and mainstream. The literature that I have gathered provides a range of modes for interrogating the simultaneously central and inconsequential subject of my thesis itself: the potato. Juxtaposing the physical, political and material conditions of the potato the internet’s least academic mode of knowing: the meme. Analyzing the potato alongside the meme allows us to discuss the role of the mundane among the proposed modes of investigation.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mfa_illustration/11"],"dc:identifier.doi":["https://doi.org/10.7936/ezvn-mr53"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:subject":["potato","meme","internet","platforms","information economy","attention economy","American Material Culture","American Popular Culture","Art and Design","Communication Technology and New Media","Critical and Cultural Studies","Illustration","Infrastructure","International Relations","Mass Communication","Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies","Other Film and Media Studies","Political Theory","Reading and Language","Social Justice","Social Media","Speech and Rhetorical Studies","Visual Studies"],"dc:title":["Because Potato"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Graduate School of Art"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Illustration & Visual Culture"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:12:17Z"}