Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet

by Lisa Nakamura, Nakamura Lisa

First published in 2002. In Cybertypes, Lisa Nakamura turn sour assumption that the Net is color-blind on its head. Examining all facets of everyday web-life, she shows that racial and ethnic stereotypes, or 'cybertypes' are hardwired into our online interactions: Identity tourists masquerade in chat rooms as Asian_Geisha or Alatiniolover. Web directories sharply delimit racial categories. Anonymous computer users are assumed to be white. Lively, provocative, Cybertypes takes up computer relationship between race, ethnicity and technology and offers a candid and nuanced understanding of identity in the information age.

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology, Race, Academic, Internet, Theory

190 pages, Hardcover

First published June 14, 2002

Reviews

[Cana McGhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

very solid 3.5! productively examines the role of race in internet cultures, both in terms of how offline discourses of race enter the online world and how the online world does (and doesn’t) acknowledge/create alternative racial formations.

[Ivy Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

After thoroughly engaging with Nakamura’s work over the course of the semester, I’ve found her arguments increasingly fragmented and her methodological approach lacking in clarity and rigor. The deeper I examine them, the more annoyed I am. But in my class we examined her work as a hallmark of examination into the digital space and our identities existing in them.

Like ok, we do a lot of critical theory reading in media studies so this isn't my first rodeo, but something about her writing feels hard to track at time and becomes a bit ramble-y. She is obviously very innovative as this was written in 2002, I like how she critiques the racialized and gendered assumptions baked into supposedly universal digital spaces, very valid take. She brings about a good question I thought about a lot in my class: who bears the burden of virtual space? We blame users so heavily but aren't we just a result of the condition, like how much can you actively work against a system that's so poorly designed. I feel like I've grown very critical of everything I read, maybe just the feeling of growing up and realizing the world is on fire has turned me sour and pessimistic. UGH!

[Mokuzai3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nakamura hat hart gekocht, dafür dass das Internet zu der Zeit noch in den Kinderschuhen steckte

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Cybertypes (2002), Lisa Nakamura examines how race gets coded on the Internet and in representations of the Internet. She explains how racism is often ignored online, and that representations are often stereotypes, or cybertypes: e.g, South Asians presented as the "thing," a mass horde and a model minority (24-25). Additionally, she explains how white people taking on racial avatars can be an example of digital tourism, which reveals privilege, mobility, and capital, a "liberation" through the appropriation of others' identities. She proposes that if the Internet is ever to be as utopian as people like to claim, "attention must be paid to discourses with rather than appropriations of the other (60). Nakamura also discusses race as it is portrayed in cyberpunk literature and advertisements for companies like IBM and Microsoft, which cybertype and Orientalize: using images of the exotic and native to reinforce notions of progress. She also explores how options for race in pull-down menus limit choices and the possibility and existence of hybrid or mestiza consciousness.

[Dragoș · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disjointed, sometimes rambling, grossly outdated and obnoxiously critical theory centric Nakamura's Cybertypes is nonetheless a landmark early study into the racial and gender dynamics created by 'cyberspace'.

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nakamura brings up some very valid points and I enjoyed reading this book. I would've given it 4 stars but I had some problems with her methodologies, and I just couldn't quite get over it.

[Elizabeth]

note caveats: http://oyceter.livejournal.com/843685...

[Rema · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent analysis of race & the Matrix.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really easy to read, especially for it's genre, and comprehensive without getting bogged down in super-intelligent academic ideas. Surprisingly enjoyable.