How Mediations of Trauma Foster Meaning-Making and Articulations of Voice in Digital Spaces

218 Pages·2017·1.69 MB·English

University of Colorado, Boulder
CU Scholar
Journalism Theses & Dissertations Journalism
Spring 1-1-2017
Living Contingent Lives Online: How Mediations
of Trauma Foster Meaning-Making and
Articulations of Voice in Digital Spaces
Samira Rajabi
University of Colorado at Boulder, [email protected]
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Rajabi, Samira, "Living Contingent Lives Online: How Mediations of Trauma Foster Meaning-Making and Articulations of Voice in
Digital Spaces" (2017).Journalism Theses & Dissertations. 1.
https://scholar.colorado.edu/journ_gradetds/1
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LIVING CONTINGENT LIVES ONLINE:

HOW MEDIATIONS OF TRAUMA

FOSTER MEANING-MAKING AND

ARTICULATIONS OF VOICE IN

DIGITAL SPACES

BY
SAMIRA RAJABI
B.S. UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, 2007
M.A. UNIVERSITY OF DENVER, 2010

A dissertation submitted to the
Faculty of the Graduate School of the
University of Colorado in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Journalism and Mass Communication
2017
i
This thesis entitled:
Living Contingent Lives Online: How Mediations of Trauma Foster Meaning-
Making and Articulations of Voice in Digital Spaces
Written by Samira Rajabi
Has been approved for the College of Media, Communication and Information

Dr. Stewart Hoover, Chair

Dr. Nabil Echchaibi

Dr. Shu-Ling Chen Berggreen

Dr. Peter Simonson

Dr. Alison Jaggar

Date: ______________
The final copy of this dissertation has been examined by the signatories, and we
find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of
scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline.
IRB protocol #14-0514
Copyright 2017, Samira Rajabi
Rajabi, Samira (Ph.D., Communication; Journalism and Mass Communication)

ii
Living Contingent Lives Online: How Mediations of Trauma Foster Meaning-
Making and Articulations of Voice in Digital Spaces
By Samira Rajabi, Ph.D., Communication, Journalism and Mass Communication
Dissertation directed by Professor Stewart Hoover

ABSTRACT

With rapidly changing and proliferating digital platforms, individuals are
able to mediate their daily lives more rapidly and with more flexibility regarding
modality and format. The flexibility and affordances enabled by the spaces created
by various digital online platforms provide users of these platforms spaces through
which to communicate their authentic, or perceived authentic, mediations of
various life experiences. Traumatic events are particularly interesting when
mediated online because of the way trauma acts on a person’s previously held
beliefs about themselves and about the world (Janoff-Bulman, 1989). When trauma
interrupts a person’s ability to believe certain truths about the world, those
individuals seek out spaces through which to explore, articulate, and communicate
new meanings.
Digital spaces are particularly salient places through which to negotiate
meaning, particular when life feels contingent upon the recovery from, or
overcoming of a traumatic event. The digital spaces explored in this dissertation
are social media spaces where users can post or share information about
themselves or others, and interact with other users. Within these spaces users can
mediate and re-mediate their traumatic experiences or instances of trauma they
have witnessed and been traumatized by, thus producing and negotiating new
meanings.
This dissertation investigates how users behave online when exploring
difficult to contend with subject matter. Working from a broad range of
interdisciplinary theories, this research attempts to use a feminist post-structuralist
lens among others to explore the possibility for changes in discourse inherent in the
mediations and articulations made online by those who seek to discover new and
changing ways of knowing, because they are forced to do so through traumatic
experience. Using three case studies to empirically explore the intersections of
media and trauma, this research yields a dynamic theoretical framework to account
for how digital users engage with media during times of suffering that may also
have applications for broader research of digital media.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are many people that I would like to thank for their invaluable support and
guidance throughout this process of researching and writing this dissertation. I would like to first
thank my committee chair, Dr. Stewart Hoover, who enabled this research in every way. From
our first opportunities to work together at the Center for Media, Religion and Culture to later
taking a class from Dr. Hoover, he has provided me with endless provocations and opportunities
through which to learn. Dr. Hoover has offered me an intellectual home for the last 6 years, a
home that has changed the way I think, do research, and put my research into circulation. He has
been an invaluable teacher, mentor, and friend who helped me navigate the often challenging
waters of grad school. He was also an incredible support to me as I navigated many health
battles, always providing comfort, and keeping me in mind for opportunities, and giving me a
place to come back to work and learn. His helpful, constructive critiques always made my work
better and allowed the research to contend with current culture questions. I hope to emulate his
passion for his work, his ability to hold multiple ideas in conversation, and his interdisciplinary,
thoughtful, always innovative theorizing in my own work.
Additionally, I would like to thank Dr. Nabil Echchaibi, for being on my committee but
also mentoring and supporting me throughout this doctoral program. Dr. Echchaibi has been a
great source of inspiration, consistently pushing my work through his own. His attention to
subaltern bodies and his willingness to stake himself in his research has given me an ability to do
the same. I am deeply grateful for his support, his help, and his mentorship. Dr. Echchaibi was
also an incredible support to me as I navigated school and personal health issues and I will
always consider meeting with him to be among the highlights of my academic tenure at CU.
I would also like to thank Dr. Shu-ling Berggreen. Dr. Berggreen showed me that
academics can be fun, playful, and unintimidating while still being rigorous, powerful and
relevant. Dr. Berggreen challenged my work in ways I never expected by always challenging my
ideas in ways that made them better and able to respond to changing cultural situations. I’ve also
enjoyed time with Dr. Berggreen as a friend and am grateful for her time and attention.
I’d further like to thank Dr. Alison Jaggar and Dr. Peter Simonson, both of whom were
kind enough to serve on this committee. Dr. Jaggar taught me the ins and outs of feminism,
provided me opportunities to challenge myself and I count her classes some of the most relevant
of my entire education. I am inspired by her work, her ability to think through social problems,
and her academic generosity. I hope to be a teacher like her someday. Dr. Simonson also
challenged me in one of the most challenging and most rewarding courses I’ve taken on this
campus. His class taught me how to hold various communication theories in tension with each
other and also taught me the appropriate kinds of questions to ask. Indeed, it was Dr. Simonson’s
class, and the excellent material he provided, that inspired the structure and framework of this
research. I am grateful for these professors, and their constant support and guidance.
I would also like to thank Dr. Janice Peck who, while not on my committee, provided
constant support, guidance, and help. She helped me navigate various dynamics of academia and
always made sure that, despite needing to miss school at times for my health, that I would never
get left behind. From her time in Proseminar to her time in office hours, Dr. Peck went above
and beyond in teaching and supporting me.
Additionally, my advisor from my Master’s program at the University of Denver, Dr.
Margie Thompson helped me a great deal. Dr. Thompson first introduced me to radical
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feminism, critical cultural studies, and set me out on my current path by pushing me to
interrogate my values, the world, and the social systems that govern us. She changed my life and
my path with what she taught me.
I would also like to thank students who came before me for their support and friendship.
First, Dr. Rachael Liberman, who really guided me through the program and taught me so much
through her work and friendship. Dr. Liberman inspires me in her work and her life. I’d also like
to thank Dr. Brooke Edge, who was an invaluable colleague and friend, and who supported me in
many ways in the early stages of writing this project. I’d also like to thank Dr. Rianne Subjianto
for being a mentor, work buddy, and amazing friend. The work of these women helped me shape
my own. I also want to thank my friends at the Center for Media, Religion and Culture, for
helping make me smarter and giving me my favorite place to go each week. I would also like to
thank my best friends – Diba, for being the real scientist in my life, Dustin for all the meals, and
RJ, for a lifetime of friendship, Erica for our daily chats, and Coral for being a listening ear,
Kelly for the love. They have been loving and supportive in my work and life. Thank you to
Kimra, for your mentorship, love and guidance always and Bill for the same, their fellowship and
support was invaluable. I’d also like to thank my doctors around the world, most centrally Dr.
Robert Breeze and his team for keeping me alive, surgery after surgery, and being patient with
me when I went back to work and school sooner than he would have liked.
My family has been vital in helping me finish this project and surviving graduate school.
Thank you to my siblings – Suesan, Farrah, Cyrus, and Jeff – their support in life, school, health,
and love has meant the world to me. I wouldn’t be here without them. My siblings are my rocks,
forever and always. Thank you to my siblings for helping me survive the trauma of my illness
and being my beacons of light, and always being willing to do anything to take care of me. They
saved my life when I was sick and they show up for me every day. Thank you to Sophia and
Brayden for always making me laugh. Thank you to Lauren for your friendship. Thank you to
Kim, Carlos Jr., Alex, Carlos, and Julia for your kindness, love, and patience with me when I’d
be studying at family lunches. And the biggest thank you to my parents, Abbas and Afsaneh
Rajabi for their love, support, guidance, and care, even when they weren’t really sure what I was
doing. I’d like to thank them for taking care of me, for always being willing to listen to a highly
theoretical rant about the state of the world, for encouraging me to find my own voice and
believe in it. I wouldn’t be here without my parents and their care, and I credit them for getting
me through major illness and helping me so that I could always stay in school and pursue my
dreams. They are the most amazing parents to whom I owe an incredible debt of gratitude. As an
aside, I would also like to thank my little pups for giving me joy and a reason to go outside.
Finally, this project would not have made it to the finish line without the love and support
of my partner in life, Glen. He is an inspiration in his creativity, his talent and his pursuit of his
own dreams. From cups of coffee to listening to me read this dissertation out loud, his support
gave me the strength to trudge forward and work through fatigue. I also want to thank him for
being there for me as I weathered the final leg of my health journey. He is the one who held my
hand as I shook in pain and helped me get back up when it was time to do so. He is a fantastic
partner in life, in work, and in love. I look forward to our marriage and a lifetime of love and
support!

Samira Rajabi
March, 2017
Boulder, Colorado
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION 1

UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA 5

DISSERTATION STRUCTURE 14

CHAPTER 2 – METHODS AND METHODOLOGY 16

STUDY DESIGN 17

METHODS FOR DATA COLLECTION 22

Kevin Ogar and CrossFit 24

Neda and the 2009 Iranian Election Protests 25

Jennifer and Angelo Merendino and “The Battle We Didn’t Choose” 25

CHALLENGES TO DATA COLLECTION 27

Challenges to Soliciting Narratives and Researcher/Subject Interaction 29

Research Cautions and Positioning the Researcher 31

CHAPTER 3 – WORKING TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE THEORY
OF TRAUMA AND DIGITAL MEDIA: A REVIEW OF RELEVANT
LITERATURE AND THEORY BUILDING 33

FROM CULTURAL STUDIES TO FEMINIST DISABILITY STUDIES: RELEVANT
LITERATURE AND GUIDING THEORIES 36

BRIDGING THE FIELDS: CREATING A FRAMEWORK FROM WHICH TO BUILD A
COMPREHENSIVE THEORY OF NEW MEDIA AND TRAUMA 44

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PARTICIPATION, PLATFORMS, AND MATERIAL BODIES: EXPLORING ONLINE
EMBODIED PARTICIPATION AS RESISTIVE ACTION OR CULTURAL COOPTATION IN THE
FACE OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT 55

FINDING AN OUTLET AFTER TRAUMA: VOICE, TACTICAL MEDIA, AND THE
POSSIBILITIES AND REFUSALS OF NEW MEDIA SPACES 70

MEMES, RE-MEDIATION AND PLAY AS TACTICAL MEDIA IN THE DIGITAL THIRD SPACE:
USING THE AFFORDANCES OF THE TECHNOLOGY TO CULTIVATE MEANING AND
SENSE-MAKING AFTER TRAUMA 87

CONCLUSION 96

CHAPTER 4 – THE CASE OF NEDA AGHA SOLTAN: TRAUMATIC VIEWING,
MEANING MAKING, AND MOURNING IN THE DIGITAL REALM 98

NEDA: WHY SHE CAPTURED THE DIGITAL WORLD 100

THE CASE OF NEDA 103

Religion, Gender, and Representation 105

IRAN, IMAGERY, AND DIGITAL MEDIA: LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR WHAT
HAPPENED TO NEDA 110

GRIEVING ONLINE: THE VICARIOUS TRAUMA OF WITNESS 116

CONCLUSIONS 126

CHAPTER 5 – KEVIN OGAR, CROSSFIT, AND ENGAGING
WITH TRAUMA ONLINE 128

THE CASE OF KEVIN OGAR: HOW ONE ATHLETE BECAME A SYMBOL OF HOPE 130

#OGARSTRONG: MEDIATION, RE-MEDIATION AND
THE MAKING OF A HERO 133

Kevin Ogar: Road to Recovery 138

CONCLUSIONS 148
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CHAPTER 6 – THE BATTLE WE DIDN’T CHOOSE: ANGELO
MERENDINO AND MEDIATIONS OF GRIEF, DISEASE, AND THE
TRAUMA OF BEARING WITNESS 151

ANGELO MERENDINO: HIS MEDIATIONS AND RE-MEDIATIONS OF JENNIFER’S
TRAUMA, AND HIS OWN TRAUMA 154

RE-MAKING, RE-MEDIATION, AND MEME-ING: HOW THE MERENDINOS’ STORY
BECAME A COMMUNITY’S STORY 163

CONCLUSIONS 168

CHAPTER 7 – CONCLUSIONS 169

TESTING THE THEORY: FINDINGS, LEARNINGS, AND PROVOCATIONS 171

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THIS RESEARCH TO MEDIA STUDIES: USING
TRAUMA AS A WAY TO HIGHLIGHT WHAT INTERNET
PLATFORMS CAN ENABLE 175

DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 180

BIBLIOGRAPHY 184

APPENDIX A – NARRATIVE INTERVIEW REQUEST SAMPLE 193
- NARRATIVE QUESTIONS
- INFORMED CONSENT

APPENDIX B – SELECTIONS FROM DATA SETS 203

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Herman (1997) once wrote that “the conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the
will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma” (p. 1). Given the
current mediatic moment, in which neoliberal ideology merges with individual desires to
presence oneself through various cultural formats, the social, digital spaces that exist online offer
trauma sufferers a place through which to negotiate the dialectic of trauma: to share one’s
suffering or deny its gravity. In scholarship, much of feminist research encourages scholars to
account for the way knowledge is produced through actively engaging with the world. Often,
when people experience trauma they potentially become “epistemically privileged in some
crucial respect” because of what they have seen, felt, or experienced (Wylie, 2003, p. 339).
When I experienced traumatic and difficult events in my own life, I became privy to this
“epistemic privilege” thus causing me to re-think the various schema by which I led my life, and
by extension spurred me to explore how traumatic experiences are mediated as a part of my
professional scholarship. This investigation was also motivated by my research of and travels to
east Africa, where I witnessed the way short form communication enables people to heal after
traumatic events. During my Masters work at the University of Denver, I embarked on a project
that explored how text messages and other types of short-form communication, often not even
using traditional conventions of language, helped women cultivate space for recovery after being
ravaged by the cruelties of a war that used rape as its primary weapon. I travelled to the areas
where these women, who proudly hung their cellphones around their necks in carefully knit
pouches, lived and heard many of them note how much technology had enabled them to rebuild
their communities after conflict. The women gave credit to the technology, not for healing them,
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