2022.Aug.05

REPORTS

Report on the 9th B’AI Book Club
Karen Lumsden, Emily Harmer, Online Othering: Exploring Digital Violence and Discrimination on the Web (2019)

On March 22, 2022, the ninth meeting of the B’AI Book Club, a book review session by project members of the B’AI Global Forum, was held online. In the meeting, Atsuko Sano, Project Researcher of the B’AI Global Forum, introduced the anthology Online Othering: Exploring Digital Violence and Discrimination on the Web (2019) by Karen Lumsden and Emily Harmer. This book attempts to refer to discrimination, abuse, and other forms of slander that occur on the Internet by using the concept of “Othering” as presented by Hegel and Beauvoir.

This book is a collection of 16 chapters of writings inspired by a one-day workshop. Each chapter describes a different aspect of a case study of discrimination and aggression that occurs online or is extended to online from the real world. The authors’ backgrounds are interdisciplinary, including not only researchers but also practitioners of victim support groups and police officers who are in actual contact with crime, and the topics cover range from political content such as alternative right wing and hate speech to the physically challenged, misogyny, and regional disparities.

After the introduction by Dr. Sano, the participants discussed their impressions of the book. First of all, there was an opinion that the book was very multi-dimensional beyond what is often perceived as so-called cyber violence, and it was impressive to note the difference in the nature of cyber violence between urban and rural areas and its relationship with physical cyberspace. As mentioned in the book, the tendency that the police consider what happens online less serious has delayed the development of laws and other measures, and there was an opinion that the same might be said in Japan, where regulations on revenge pornography have progressed after the tragic incidents. In response to this opinion, some commented that care for victims does not seem to be progressing in Japan in the same way as in real society, and this may not be due to differences between in real and online environment. In other words, the regulations simply have not kept up with the speed of online development, just getting worse before both the system and regulations have caught up, and for the police, the classification of the crime is separate from whether it happens online or not.

The “boundary” between online and real society was also discussed. It was pointed out that it is particularly frustrating that the book makes no mention of how the boundary between the intimate and public spheres would change or be affected by the shift to online environment. As for domestic violence, the line between the two is a difficult to draw, and it tends to keep it off the outside because it is an “internal” matter. The same is true of online violence, which is becoming increasingly difficult to determine the extent to what is a crime. That is why, some pointed out, there should have needed to be mentions about this point.

In addition, at the end of this book, it is stated that the editors would like to consider conducting research with foreign countries in the future. Discussion ensued on what kind of themes could be considered when talking about “Othering” in Japan. It is likely that the issue of Zainichi, Koreans resident in Japan, and the right wing on the Internet will be dealt with, but it is not clear whether misogyny could be mentioned in the same depth as in this book. On the other hand, the issue of persecution of Jews will inevitably come up strongly in Germany because of its historical reason. Thus, it is expected that the contents of the “Othering” will vary depending on the culture and the social context of the country. Finally, the participants wondered how the one-day workshop had led to the creation of a book, to whom the keyword “Online Othering” was innovative (brand new), and to what extent this keyword had succeeded to expand and cover the areas outside of the already focused disciplines. Meanwhile, the frequent use of the term “political economy Internet,” which seems to be a major pillar of this book, suggests the possibility of deepening the economic context behind the Internet, which is common everywhere, from a cross-cultural perspective. In other words, while the book is a collection of case studies, at its core, they might be working toward the same goal. Certainly, the book calls for responses from Internet companies, which could mean that it also includes an economic critique.

If the B’AI Global Forum someday has the opportunity to hold such a workshop, the book would be useful as a method of pursuing a single theme while embracing diverse perspectives and opinions.