Mobilities, Communication, and Asia| Mobile Media Photography and Intergenerational Families

Authors

  • Jolynna Sinanan University of Sydney, Australia
  • Larissa Hjorth RMIT University, Australia
  • Kana Ohashi Keio University, Japan
  • Fumitoshi Kato Keio University, Japan

Keywords:

mobile media, visuality, camera phones, families, intimacy

Abstract

The visuality of apps such as Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp is becoming more apparent, especially as part of emotional work in contemporary relationships. In families, informal intergenerational literacy can be found throughout mobile media practices. Often, the emotional work around these practices remains tacit. In this article, we interrogate the ways in which mobile media photography has become imbricated in making-do practices of maintaining intimacy in intergenerational family contexts. Drawing from literature on mobile media visuality and transnational family relationships, this article considers Arlie Hochschild’s emotional labor and “feeling rules” to consider how intergenerational familial genres in Australia and Japan are used to perform contemporary notions of familial intimacy and copresence. The article thus contributes a cross-cultural consideration of Hochschild’s emotion work to examine how the circulation of images reveals the ideals of familyhood and aspirations of contemporaryThe visuality of apps such as Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp is becoming more apparent, especially as part of emotional work in contemporary relationships. In families, informal intergenerational literacy can be found throughout mobile media practices. Often, the emotional work around these practices remains tacit. In this article, we interrogate the ways in which mobile media photography has become imbricated in making-do practices of maintaining intimacy in intergenerational family contexts. Drawing from literature on mobile media visuality and transnational family relationships, this article considers Arlie Hochschild’s emotional labor and “feeling rules” to consider how intergenerational familial genres in Australia and Japan are used to perform contemporary notions of familial intimacy and copresence. The article thus contributes a cross-cultural consideration of Hochschild’s emotion work to examine how the circulation of images reveals the ideals of familyhood and aspirations of contemporary Asian families in a multicultural and monocultural context.Asian families in a multicultural and monocultural context.

Author Biographies

Jolynna Sinanan, University of Sydney, Australia

Research Fellow in Digital Media and Ethnography

Larissa Hjorth, RMIT University, Australia

Distinguished Professor

Kana Ohashi, Keio University, Japan

Instructor

Fumitoshi Kato, Keio University, Japan

Professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies

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Published

2018-09-25

Issue

Vol. 12 (2018)

Section

Special Sections

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