Jamie's profile refutes Nakamura's notion that everything is a copy online and as Arola argues "Jamie has more 'authentic' markers of what some of us might recognize as being Indian, and in this way we might even see Jamie as Indian, and perhaps not necessarily as mixedblood" (Arola 222). Does this notion of 'authentic' pose some dilemma for who Jamie really is? This makes me think of The Matrix and Nakamura's discussion of the native in online spaces, and how her argument that authenticity is lost pushes against the type of online presence that Jamie's Myspace profile hopes to convey.
Another topic that I saw throughout each piece was the limitations online spaces provide in identifying ethnicity. Arola and Nakamura both discuss the limitations "checking a box" provides us with, and how there are not enough options available to accurately portray everyones racial identity. As Arola notes, "mixedbloods don't fall into a neatly decided category" (Arola 215). I thought it was interesting that out of the Myspace profiles observed, two out of the three users couldn't remember if they had chosen a race identification, which to me seems to indicate that "identifying" didn't matter as much as the other information they chose to share on their profile page in terms of how the users wanted to be portrayed. Is this because there was no way to identify as more then one race? If there was the option to do so, would more have identified? These are important questions to consider.
This gets me thinking about Nakamura and identity tourism, and her argument that in online spaces "everything is a copy...nothing has an aura" (Nakamura 6). I wonder, if presented with this notion, Arola's examples would have felt offended or inadequate. Additionally, I was interested in Arola's discussion of biological signifiers of identifying as Indian, noting "distinctive physical appearance that many accompany those connections--imply a stronger claim on identity than do more distant ones" (Arola 215). Thinking about this in online spaces, I gravitate towards Adam's Myspace profile. Adam chose not to identify as mixedblood in his online profile. However, if we consider Arola's idea of biological identifiers, wouldn't that be difficult to conceal in your Myspace profile picture? Perhaps it's just the poor image quality, but to me, viewing Figure 1 and Adam's profile picture looks to have some type of mask or bandana covering part of his face. I wonder if this is intentional, as to cover the biological connection to his mixedblood identity. This depiction in the online world mirrors his identity portrayal in real life, as Arola indicates that Adam "rarely identifies as native or mixed in his daily life except in academic circles where he engages directly with native philosophy" (Arola 220). This reserve echoes Nakamura's discussion between "Western user and the discourse of race and racism in cyberspace" (Nakamura 7). As Arola mentions, part of Adams decision to leave out the mixedblood on Myspace stems in his inability to articulate what it means to him, however, could it also be a fear that he is afraid of being 'raced' in a negative way online? As Nakamura notes, "symptoms of modernity create a sense of unease that is remedied by comforting and familiar images of 'history' and a 'native' that seems frozen in 'a different time and a different place' (Nakamura 7). This seems to me to accurately convey Adams hesitation to portray his mixedblood identity online, and also confirms why he feels safer discussing that mixed blood in different social circles such as academic communities. The 'different time, different place' notion speaks to almost a compartmentalizing of identity, and that you can highlight certain aspects of your identity in different communities.
In short, as Nakamura argues, "race must be understood as a function of consciousness rather than something that is visible and written on the body" (67). However, how we choose to display "the body" or our identities in online spaces primarily indicates how we'd like to be seen both offline and online, and for Arola, it gets messy when considering the mixedblood. Do we choose to embrace the biological implications of race? Do we hide them? What about the mixedblood who doesn't necessarily hold those biological signifiers? What about the mixedblood that does and prefers to identify otherwise? Comedian Trevor Noah explores these issues in his standup act titled, "African American". I've pointed Mark and Jennie towards this episode in the hopes that they'll incorporate it in today's class. I think a lot of the issues of the mixedblood identity are presented in a way thats helpful in understanding Nakamura's ideas about identity tourism, Arola's investigation of mixedblood identity in social media, and other readings we've looked at for this week. I've included a segment from Noah's standup below that discusses the mixedblood:
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