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Start Date
24-6-2022 12:00 AM
End Date
24-6-2022 12:00 AM
Abstract
To what use can we put witchcraft in the digital age? I explore the ways in which the rhetorical invocation of occultism and the adaptation of its practices to digital contexts can be appropriated as actions of feminist protest. The flourishing of “occulture” in Western society collides with the digital culture of social media, producing new forms like emoji magic (in which emojis are branded “sigils” for use in spell-casting) and “mass hexing” events conducted via digital video-conferencing technologies. These practices of “digital witchcraft” entail appeals to emotion and community, which are centered when the appeal to objective truth is set aside. Despite a lack of intrinsic empirical efficacy, the communal ritual of “spell casting” rhetorically produces spaces in which politicized, communal affect collects. In turn, this captured affect can be used to direct participants toward more traditional political action. Further, due to its playful, theatrical rejection of rationalist logic, digital witchcraft may be a rhetorical strategy uniquely well-suited for protest in the post-truth political climate. If feelings matter more than facts, protest actions that accentuate feelings (even if they dispense with facts altogether) may be put to some use.
“Like to Charge, Reblog to Cast”: ‘Digital Witchcraft’ as Affective Rhetorical Strategy for Feminist Protest
To what use can we put witchcraft in the digital age? I explore the ways in which the rhetorical invocation of occultism and the adaptation of its practices to digital contexts can be appropriated as actions of feminist protest. The flourishing of “occulture” in Western society collides with the digital culture of social media, producing new forms like emoji magic (in which emojis are branded “sigils” for use in spell-casting) and “mass hexing” events conducted via digital video-conferencing technologies. These practices of “digital witchcraft” entail appeals to emotion and community, which are centered when the appeal to objective truth is set aside. Despite a lack of intrinsic empirical efficacy, the communal ritual of “spell casting” rhetorically produces spaces in which politicized, communal affect collects. In turn, this captured affect can be used to direct participants toward more traditional political action. Further, due to its playful, theatrical rejection of rationalist logic, digital witchcraft may be a rhetorical strategy uniquely well-suited for protest in the post-truth political climate. If feelings matter more than facts, protest actions that accentuate feelings (even if they dispense with facts altogether) may be put to some use.
Bio
Andrea Jacoby (she/her) is a PhD student at the University of Michigan’s Department of Communication and Media. Her research centers on expressions of feminist affect in online spaces.