The Posthuman Poetics of Instagram Poetry

Technological developments and constraints have always influenced and shaped human cultural artefacts such as poetry, stories and music (Emerson, 2014: ix) and the same is true of the vast variations of the digital apparatus. As a result, the forward momentum of the contemporary explosion of online cultural content has far reaching implications on human subjectivities in cyberspace (Hayles, 1999). The construction and analysis of new digital literary artefacts with regards their impact on literary expression and reception is a timely venture that can help us begin to understand, anticipate, and drive the changing shape of human culture. For example, Instagram poetry, a type of digital poetry is, as the name implies, poetry that is produced for distribution through the social media platform Instagram and most usually incorporates creative typography with bite size verses. Instagram poets such as @atticuspoetry (517k followers) @christopherpoindexter (325k followers) and @rupikaur_ (1.8 million followers) have in fact proven to be so popular that their work also appears as best-selling print books. Instagram poetry can demonstrate the cultural impact of a posthuman cyborgian fluidity of borders and forms in that we essentially find ourselves left with anthropophagic texts - cannibalistic texts that remix, reuse and re-appropriate content. This paper will examine existing and contemporary examples towards the goal of a deeper understanding of Instagram poetry as a posthuman literary artefact.

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Jeneen Naji

Conference

Publication date: May 2018

Publication date (Print): May 2018

Pages: 1-7

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[1 ] Dept. of Media Studies

National University of Ireland Maynooth

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVAC18.1

SO-VID: 69b8eadc-370c-48a5-92e1-4a33b6ca805f

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Politics of the Machines - Art and After

Conference acronym: EVA Copenhagen

Conference number: 7

Conference location: Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark

Conference date: 15 - 17 May 2018

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Digital arts and culture

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1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVAC18.1

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

References

BBC Radio 4 2018 The Poetry of Instagram https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09tcb4w 12 April 2018
M Dean 2016 Instagram poets society: selfie age gives new life and following into poetry https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/23/po etry-world-split-over-polemic-attacking-amateur-work-by-young-female-poets 12 April 2018
A Delwiche J.J Henderson 2012 The Participatory Cultures Handbook Routledge New York
L Emerson 2014 Reading Writing Interfaces: From The Digital To The Bookbound University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis
Kris Fallon 2014 Streams of the Self: The Instagram Feed as Narrative Autobiography In “Proceedings of the Interactive Narratives, New Media & Social Engagement International Conference.” Hudson MouraRicardo SternbergRegina CunhaCecília QueirozMartin Zeilinger
L Flores 2018 Lecture: Third Generation Electronic Literature http://leonardoflores.net/blog/lecture-third-generation-electronic-literature/ 12 April 2018
C T Funkhouser 2007 Augusto de Campos, Digital Poetry, and the Anthropophagic Imperative Ciberletras: Revista de crítica literaria y de cultura, Nº. 17, 2007 http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ciberletras/v17/funkha user.htm 12 April 2018
C T Funkhouser 2012 New Directions in Digital Poetry Continuum London
N K Hayles 1999 How we became Posthuman: VirtualBodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics University of Chicago Press Chicago
N K Hayles 2012 How We Think: Digital Media And Contemporary Technogenesis The University of Chicago Press Chicago
R Kaur 2015 Milk and Honey Andrews McMeel Publishing: Kansas City
Kimothjoy https://www.kimothyjoy.com/about 12 April 2018
G Kress 2003 Literacy in the New Media Age Routledge Oxon & New York
R Simanowski 2010 Digital Anthropophagy: Refashioning Words as Image, Sound and Action. Leonardo 43 2 159 163 The MIT Press Retrieved August 29, 2018, from Project MUSE database
C J Shaper 1997 Networked Art University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis
R Watts 2018 The Cult of the Noble Amateur PN Review 239 44 3 January-February 2018 https://www.pnreview.co.uk/cgibin/scribe?item_id=10090 12 April 2018
Makerswomen @makerswomen Instagram 12 April 2018

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[1] BBC Radio 4 2018 The Poetry of Instagram https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09tcb4w 12 April 2018

[2] M Dean 2016 Instagram poets society: selfie age gives new life and following into poetry https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/23/po etry-world-split-over-polemic-attacking-amateur-work-by-young-female-poets 12 April 2018

[3] A Delwiche J.J Henderson 2012 The Participatory Cultures Handbook Routledge New York

[4] L Emerson 2014 Reading Writing Interfaces: From The Digital To The Bookbound University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis

[5] Kris Fallon 2014 Streams of the Self: The Instagram Feed as Narrative Autobiography In “Proceedings of the Interactive Narratives, New Media & Social Engagement International Conference.” Hudson MouraRicardo SternbergRegina CunhaCecília QueirozMartin Zeilinger

[6] L Flores 2018 Lecture: Third Generation Electronic Literature http://leonardoflores.net/blog/lecture-third-generation-electronic-literature/ 12 April 2018

[7] C T Funkhouser 2007 Augusto de Campos, Digital Poetry, and the Anthropophagic Imperative Ciberletras: Revista de crítica literaria y de cultura, Nº. 17, 2007 http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ciberletras/v17/funkha user.htm 12 April 2018

[8] C T Funkhouser 2012 New Directions in Digital Poetry Continuum London

[9] N K Hayles 1999 How we became Posthuman: VirtualBodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics University of Chicago Press Chicago

[10] N K Hayles 2012 How We Think: Digital Media And Contemporary Technogenesis The University of Chicago Press Chicago

[11] R Kaur 2015 Milk and Honey Andrews McMeel Publishing: Kansas City

[12] Kimothjoy https://www.kimothyjoy.com/about 12 April 2018

[13] G Kress 2003 Literacy in the New Media Age Routledge Oxon & New York

[14] R Simanowski 2010 Digital Anthropophagy: Refashioning Words as Image, Sound and Action. Leonardo 43 2 159 163 The MIT Press Retrieved August 29, 2018, from Project MUSE database

[15] C J Shaper 1997 Networked Art University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis

[16] R Watts 2018 The Cult of the Noble Amateur PN Review 239 44 3 January-February 2018 https://www.pnreview.co.uk/cgibin/scribe?item_id=10090 12 April 2018

[17] Makerswomen @makerswomen Instagram 12 April 2018

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