When dealing with new media, cultural studies traditionally has relied upon
semiotic analysis, ethnography, and Marxist critique as tools for
breaking down hegemonic discourse or for demonstrating how
dominant forms of ideology and power structures are challenged. Such methods
have proven useful for revealing both the ways
ideological formations take place within culture and how places of resistance
to such formations are constructed (often within the interface of popular culture).
In Race in Cyberspace, a new collection of essays on cultural studies and digital
culture edited by Beth E. Kolko, Lisa Nakamura, and Gilbert Rodman,
questions about ethnic and racial representation within the wired community of cyberspace
are placed at the forefront.
These essays take as their departure point the MCI television advertisement
"Anthem" to challenge the naive
assumption that the Web has produced a democratic order free of racial prejudice and sexism.
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