MEDIA ETHNOGRAPHY – PROJECT PITCH – VEGAN YOUTUBE DRAMA
As this project pitch explains, my media niche is based on the influence of both vegan influencers and the vegan online community. This project will allow me to analyse the impact that veganism and non-veganism has on the careers and power of the influencers themselves, and the fandoms associated with them. The concept of ‘Cancel Culture’ has become increasingly prominent among our generation and I therefore believe this media niche is worthy of exploring.
To complete this project, I will have to:
Search, discover and locate information
Observe, listen and participate in events
Remain ethical
Write, record, map and document
Think, reflect and narrativise
Communicate, report and mediate
My ability to problematize, conceptualise, contextualise, explore, compare and contrast my findings will determine how strong my project is and how beneficial it will be to my studies, my audience and myself.
There are many research methods and methodologies I could utilise within this project. However, it is important that I am able to acknowledge the ones that will be most appropriate. As I stated within my pitch, I plan to use interviews, observations and auto ethnography as they will work the best with my vision and goals. To conduct these, I will use:
Journals
Screenshots
Videos
Photos
Mapping
My own experiences
My connections to vegans and those within the online community
Through this ethnography, we will be able a gain a stronger understanding of the actions of those on each side of the drama and how this relates to all areas of social media and power.
MEDIA ETHNOGRAPHY – BACKGROUND RESEARCH AND ETHICS – VEGAN YOUTUBE DRAMA
The first goal of this blog post is to share the background research I have found and explain how it contributes to my understanding of the project and the results I may come across. I will use these sources to make sense of the different paradigmatic or theoretical frameworks I can implement into my work and how they are used to analyse my data and field notes. Although there are plenty of magazine articles, blogs and YouTube videos on the topic of vegan youtube drama, I have struggled to find a wide variety of actual scholarly and academic sources. However, I will combine both of these types of sources to ensure my research is as informed as possible.
FreeLee The Banana Girl
Here are some of sources that have assisted me the most:
This article touches on how common drama is within the online vegan community and backs up this information with specific examples, predominately focusing on FreeLee The Banana Girl. The source focuses on how vegan YouTubers are so quick accuse others of being unhealthy, fake, promoting eating disorders and claiming that the cause of testicular cancer is following a non-vegan diet! This source gave me insight into the extremities of the drama and encourages me to think about how this impacts the perspective and beliefs of viewers.
This source explains that how being both vegan and having a prominent online presence is risky and comes with a lot of responsibility. It claims that a lot of these vegan YouTubers build their brand on tearing other down, and this is what is ultimately creating the drama within this community. The article also recalls times where drama has been created through false allegations and rumors, and points out how no longer being vegan automatically loses business. This highlighted the fact that viewers become fans and get attached to these influencers, therefore feeling betrayed when they change.
This journal article investigates the influence of vegan YouTubers and the impact the the structure and delivery of their messages and videos has on viewers. It focuses on the guilt factor that is incooperated within some videos. This source allows me to consider the different emotions and experiences viewers and fans of these YouTubers have towards them and makes me question the reasoning behind wanting to get involved in this drama.
The second goal of this blog post is to acknowledge the different ethical issues that may arise throughout my auto ethnographic study and to ensure I know how to manage them.
Ethics, values and principles are what form the theoretical framework that helps us understand human behaviour. I need to apply these to my research in order to ensure everyone involved is safe.
I need to ensure I references my sources. I cannot take other’s work and claim it as my own.
I need to ensure everyone involved is fully aware of the nature of my research and what their information will be used for.
I need to ensure I have their permission to use their name, show their face, record them or quote them.
I need to ensure I stop immediately if someone is uncomfortable.
I need to ensure I respect everyone’s privacy and desire for anonymity.
I need to ensure I do not incorporate my own bias into the research.
I need to ensure all claims and statements are true and that I have evidence to back it up.
I need to ensure no harm is caused towards the participants.
MEDIA ETHNOGRAPHY – PROBLEMATIZING – VEGAN YOUTUBE DRAMA
In order to get my ethnographic research underway, I need to start problematizing my media niche. It is important to identify the problems within this topic before I attempt to create a research question and begin my investigation. If I expect to obtain interesting and informative results, I must recognise the most important issues within veganism and youtube. The issue is, I can’t decide on which area I want to problematise.
Analysing the impact veganism has on the careers of YouTubers and influencers. It would be interesting to examine how fame, fandoms, drama and cancel culture ties in with veganism and to solve how this affects their career. To better understand this niche, I would focus on these key issues:
Why they became vegan YouTubers
The impact viewers have on their decisions
How being vegan/not vegan has impacted their career
the effectiveness and prevalence of drama and response videos
However, I do not have easy access to big vegan and ex vegan YouTuber and therefore gaining this sort of information and perspective will be highly challenging.
On the other hand, focusing on the impact that YouTube veganism has on the fandoms and viewers may be a beneficial area to problematise. It would be interesting to gain an understanding of the prevalence of the online vegan community and how they perceive these influencers and the actions and messages they create regarding veganism. To better understand this niche, I would focus on these key issues:
The thought process behind either ‘stanning’ or ‘cancelling’ a particular YouTuber or influencer
The influence YouTubers hold over their audience’s opinions and actions
The power of fandoms
Cancel culture, response videos and online hate
This would be more accessible and suit an ethnographic study better. However, I feel as if it is not as interesting.
My expertise and knowledge from being a vegan myself will allow me to properly immerse myself in the study. This will help me relate more to the research and thus gain greater results. It is beneficial as I understand the content that is being discussed and I can therefore use my prior knowledge to generate innovative ideas.
By taking notes and exploring these problems, I will create a new insight and perspective that I will then be able to share with my audience. I am interested in sharing my results with anyone within the online community, as cancel culture and influencers play a massive part in all areas of the internet. I am interested in sharing my results with future employees so that I can prove my research abilities.
I will be implementing both observation and auto ethnography in my research.
I will spend time on vegan youtube channels, forums, blogs and social media accounts in order to observe how individuals within this niche communicate and interact with both influencers and one another. I will produce a field journal with taking note of specific accounts, channels, quotes, conversations and trends within this community and also add a participatory element to my research by engaging with this activity.
In addition, using the method of auto ethnography I will be able to compare my experiences and opinions on the topic and therefore create an autobiographical element to my research. Drawing on my beliefs and practices will allow me to be both emotional and analytical.
I will record my field notes through screenshots, interviews, note taking and bookmarking.
These processes and methods will lead me to a complete a descriptive analysis of my findings.
SCHEDULE:
WEEK 4: Decide on what specific area of this topic that I will focus on. I will analyse the accessibility, relevance and effectiveness of each topic in order to come to a conclusion.
WEEK 5: Start planning my project pitch. I will write a script and select the most important points to include in my video.
WEEK 6: Present project pitch.
WEEK 7: Do some additional background research. I will become familiar with the latest drama, popular YouTubers and where the online vegan community is most active. I will begin mapping and narrowing down my field.
WEEK 8: Subscribe to vegan YouTubers, join forums and start forming relationships and connections with the community. I will start to explore the intricacies of my topic.
WEEK 9-10: I will begin to acknowledge trends and where this research is taking me.
WEEK 11: I will start to compare and contrast my findings with other research in order to come to a conclusion.
WEEK 12: I will focus on assembling all data and presenting it in an appropriate and clear manner.
MEDIA ETHNOGRAPHY – FIELD SITE – VEGAN YOUTUBE DRAMA
This field site assisted me in forming connections between all the relevant actors to my topic. It allowed me to create a network between all factors and help me recognise the relationship to one another.
Through this ethnography I will be able to enhance my ability to address social issues, acknowledge trends and create solutions to questions I am presented with. By ethnographically exploring vegan YouTube and the complexity of the personas involved, I will develop a greater understanding of the power of influencers as well the impact of the vegan community. This will help me analyse how these forces work together and will assist me in developing knowledge on how this topic is relevant in today’s society, both online and offline. Exploring this media niche will teach me how to effectively problematise, approach, explore and contrast the information and results I find. It will also strengthen my skills of being flexible and sensitive towards every project I do.
Presenting this subject as a digital artefact will allow me to develop the necessary skills of conceptualising, mapping and narrowing information, which is an essential factor in both the international studies and communications and media field. This artefact will demonstrate how academic work is composed and will allow me to clearly reflect on the project I have created.
Presenting clear and comprehensible work will advance my professional and social skills as well as preparing me for future projects. This digital artefact will encourage others to consider my ideas, and may therefore result in change within individuals and groups.
I believe my niche is extremely relevant to my future career, in both international studies and the creative industries. The consideration of animals rights and the environment is becoming extremely prevalent within all aspects of the media, including social media, youtube, television, film and news. The media is where everyone can access a multitude of information, statistics, reports and videos regarding veganism. However, lots of drama and distortion comes along with it. This phenomenon is becoming increasingly popular within the media and thus it is relevant and necessary to investigate.
It seems as if the findings of my research may interest anyone. People either love or hate vegans, and so this topic may be fascinating for many different groups. However, I do assume that the group who would take the most interest in these findings would be those who do follow a vegan diet.
As I have followed a vegan diet for 4 years, I do bring a specific perspective and personal experience to this project. I need to ensure that I remain unbiased and adopt the viewpoint of others. My experience may allow me to acknowledge certain types of behaviour and trends within the community. However, I am not an avid YouTube watcher and so I will have to try hard to see things from a fandom’s point of view.
In order to problematise this subject, I need to narrow my ideas down and identify the issue that has the most social, cultural and media relevance. I need to acknowledge how different aspects within this subject impact one another and then decide on what needs to be addressed. I will consider how this issue affects influencers, the vegan community, the online community and careers.
There are plenty of articles and YouTube videos regarding veganism and youtube drama, however I am yet to find scholarly articles. Hopefully further research will
For my ethnography, I am planning on focusing on veganism, and more specifically on the drama surrounding the diet on social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram. As I have been vegan for 4 years, my level of expertise is somewhat high. However, I do not watch vegan YouTube, nor do I know too much about specific drama instances. This will make this ethnography insightful and interesting to myself as well as my audience.
I plan to focus on the power of the online vegan community and the influence they have over an individual’s online career. ‘Cancel Culture’ has become such a common thing and I therefore seek to explore the reasoning and mindset behind this phenomenon.
The content and spectacle of this topic most commonly occurs on YouTube, a platform that allows influencers to upload videos and viewers to comment, like, unlike and subscribe to this content. YouTube has a massive presence in todays society and is used by some of the most famous people in the world. This platform has created its own celebrities and has become one of the most popular forms of media. The nature of YouTube allows influencers to be highly responsive to their audience and has allowed them to create individual fandoms. Vegan YouTubers have a target audience of those who are vegan, but most do aim to reach those who are not vegan in order to spread their message further.
There is an extensive list of YouTubers who have stopped being vegan, many who have experienced response videos, exposés and online harassment because of it. This ethnography will question why were they vegan in the first place and why they feel a responsibility to announce their change of diet to their audience. Is veganism more than just a diet, is it a way to make money, fit in, avoid hate, sell products, attract fame or a result of online pressure?
Many very prevalent online personas have been involved in this type of drama, some with millions of followers and subscribers. Some include:
Using the perspectives of viewers, I aim to assess why no longer being vegan has such a dramatic impact on the careers of these influencers. It is common for response videos and online posts to be made following these announcements, in which fans and other influencers shame, expose and undermine the actions or reasoning behind their decision.
Let me give you an example:
Vegan YouTubers such as Tim Shieff and Rawvana suffered a dramatic decrease in subscribers and followers once they announced they had incorporated fish and eggs back into their diet. Numerous response videos were made about their decision and their audience became divided. Tim, who is a freerunner, and Rawvana who was a fitness and health blogger who constantly promoted a vegan diet, experienced great damage to their reputation once their vegan diet ended. Thus, I will consider how no longer being vegan on the internet impacts an influencer’s career and appeal to their audience.
It would also be interesting to research how this impacts vegans online compared to offline; does it make viewers feel guilty for not being vegan? Is it even prevalent outside of the vegan online community?
Climate change, animal rights and environmental issues have become a more prevalent topic of conversation in todays society and thus, the values of veganism have become more popular. More people are considering what vegans have to say and vegan cafes, restaurant and substitutes are now very common. Overall, veganism is becoming increasingly prominent, however, it is still a very niche area of the internet as it isn’t something everyone can relate to.
This media niche should be considered interesting by others as veganism and the use of social media is only becoming more and more prevalent. This proves the power that fandoms and particular online communities have over creators and their level of transparency and overall presence. Through this ethnography, we will be able a gain a stronger understanding of the reasoning and actions of those on each side of the drama and how this relates to all areas of social media fame and following.
This week in INTS207, we focused on the security of migration and the complexities of the causes and impacts of the global migration crisis the world is facing today.
The three main elements of this lecture included:
The reason why so many people are forced to flee their homes
The dangers of migrating
The various responses to migrants
In times of turmoil, people from all over the world are either forced to leave their homes to avoid persecution and violence, or decide to settle somewhere new in hopes of leading a better and safer life.
The rapid population growth in todays society is creating a massive strain or land and necessary resources. Developing countries including Lebanon, Oman and Kuwait are experiencing extremely rapid population growth, creating an increasingly high demand on resources. When countries can not provide enough food, water and shelter to keep up with these trends, citizens look elsewhere for a place that adequately satisfies these needs and where they can therefore lead a healthy and secure life. Similarly, many countries are experiencing intra-state conflicts and civil war, creating an extremely dangerous living conditions and putting citizens directly at risk. The United Nations has stated that the Syrian civil war has displaces 6.5 million people and forced more than 3 million to flee to countries including Turkey and Jordan in order to avoid persecution.
Migrating can be extremely risky. It is possible to get lost, go missing or drown during the journey, with more than 3770 people reported to do so 2015. Migrants and refugees are not offered any protection and are faced with threats of physical and sexual abuse, kidnapping, starvation and unsafe boat and on-foot journeys in open sea and conflict zones. The lecture provided information on some of the tragedies that occurred in 2015 alone:
Two boats carrying about 500 migrants sank after leaving Zuwara in Libya on 27 August
The bodies of 71 people, believed to be Syrian migrants, were discovered in an abandoned lorry in Austria on 27 August
A shipwreck off Italy’s Lampedusa island killed about 800 people on 19 April
At least 300 migrants are feared to have drowned after attempting to cross the Mediterranean in rough seas in early February
Each country has a unique response regarding the welcome and settlement of refugees and migrants. Most have strict border policies, including the US and Australia, where there have been attempts to prevent their arrival all together. Countries including Australia, Jordan and and Kenya have refugee camps, where those who arrive there are placed in indefinitely.
The refugee and migrant crisis is the greatest humanitarian issue in the world day. As Mansbach and Taylor stated in the textbook, between 1984 and 2004, the number of refugees almost doubled, and is only growing higher. The harmful stereotypes of refugees and migrants have prevented their ability to comfortably settle in a country, but realists have explained that we can turn the “differences that are perceived as a security issue into a potential to create more inclusive societies.”
Do students consider partying an important part of their university experience?
Overall, I am able to say that the results that I received through this research project were the results I expected. I predicted that there would be quite an even mix in responses, as I know, from personal experience, that not everyone enjoys partying as much as others. I also expected a mix of both perspectives purely because of the large amount of students in this subject.
However, I was surprised to discover that those who enjoyed partying the most did not live on campus. I had this perception of campus life as one eternal, exclusive party and that those who lived in accommodation were most likely to participate in this type of behaviour. But, most of this socialising and partying takes place outside of the campus, at clubs and house parties, and with a mix of people both living on and off campus.
So, what did I learn about completing a research process under pressure?
It is very important to plan ahead – survey questions, interview questions, who you are going to ask to participate etc.
Contact as many people as possible in case things fall through! You can never have too much data.
Analyze the different forms of writing before attempting a new style. I had to learn what an opinion piece was!
Ask for help when needed! Working collaboratively allowed me to feel confident in my research process and took a lot of pressure off.
Be curious and rigorous in your work! I started by asking myself what interests me. This allowed my research to be enjoyable and therefore less stressful.
Looking back, I should’ve pushed harder to obtain more survey results. Although I got 26, it would have been advantageous to analyse a wider demographic of answers. I believe more responses would have made my project stronger and would have provided me with a clearer insight into the topic. I would have also asked survey respondents to provide their gender, and include interviewees of other genders besides just female, so my research could have been more balanced. This would have allowed me to make a comparison between genders. Besides these points, I would not have done anything in my process differently. I ensured I stayed on top of my work load, promoted my survey, gave my interviewees plenty of time to respond, and gave myself allocated times to complete each step. I learnt that I am capable of following a plan and producing detailed, ethical work. Now that this information has been compiled, students and the university can work together to provide resources for us to thrive both academically and socially.
This week in INTS207, we discussed the complexities of food, water and health security and questioned: “What happens if population pressures finally hit a threshold that tumbles the dominoes of food, water, energy, climate, pollution & biodiversity; which in turn break up the intricate workings of the global society?”
The three key points that were made during this lecture include:
Extreme inequality still exists
The impacts of food, water and health security are interconnected
Climate change is an insecurity multiplier
Although some areas of security have been improving, still more than 2 billion people are experiencing extreme water stress. An estimated 767 million people were still living below the extreme poverty line in 2013. Nearly 50% of all land has been paved, bulldozed, damned or turned into agricultural fields. Those living with HIV in African regions do not have the same access to lifesaving medication as those in the Western world do. Many areas of human security are still compromised and need to be addressed before any sustainable development goals can be achieved.
Furthermore, all forms of security are strongly connected and have dramatic affects on each aspect. The World Bank estimates that COVID19 will force 40 to 60 million people into extreme poverty in 2020, due to the impact of COVID-19. Individual not being able to work due to being unwell, and business shutting down due to the imposed restrictions proves that health insecurity leads to economic insecurity. This is also relevant to the Malaria outbreak. As the textbook stated, this disease is estimated to cost Africa $12 billion a year.
Similarly, food security has been threatened by the prevalence of HIV and AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is the most common among young adults, who are expected and relied on to work and produce food. However, because of the illness and thus the inability to work, the region had experienced a 70% loss of labour due to the fields being left unattended and their change in composition. This negatively affects food security.
Furthermore, water security can also be impacted by health security. Waterborne diseases, such as Cholera, can travel through water and therefore infect those who drink it and completely prevent access to clean water.
Climate change has the biggest impact on all areas of human security. If the earth warms by 2 degrees, the production of maize in tropical areas will decrease by 7% and wheat by 5%. It is predicted that by 2030, the extreme heat and drought caused by climate change will make the land unable to support crops. Also, the dramatic warming of Africa has encouraged large swarms of locus’ that are threatening their food supply. Irregular weather patterns caused by climate change, such as periodic surges of extreme rainfall and flooding, can encourage the transmission of diseases such as Cholera and Hepatitis.
Although climate change sceptics within international relations may deny these impacts and define it as a hoax, it can not be ignored if we want this planet to be secure.
This week in INT207, we focused on cybersecurity. We looked at both internal and external threats, and the emergence of ‘Homo Digitalis.’
As Snowden exposed in 2013, the US government, as well as other governments around the world, have extremely extensive civilian surveillance programs. As the NSA has stated, these security measures are imposed to protect citizens from terror and crime, and are present within phone calls, text messages, social media and mobile phones. The NSA collects information from 6 billion phone calls a month. Per month, Brazil collects 2.3 billion, India collects 13. 5 billion and Germany collects 500 million phone calls. The amount of private information being collected every day is almost incomprehensible, with Greenwald stating that an estimated 20 trillion communications have been recorded since 9/11.
This sort of cyber security can have privacy consequences as this immense amount of information could be used for good or bad. The importance and effects of cybersecurity have been widely debated among IR theorists, such as realists and Marxists. As citizens, are we only deserving of protection if we give up some of our rights? The majority agrees that cyber security has gone too far.
External threats are also an issue within cyber security. This type of threat is mostly used in the form of hacking, cyber terrorism and fake news. The goal of hacking, also known as ‘hacktivism’, is usually to promote disobedience, disrupt normality and intimidate the general public. Additionally, cyber terrorism is used to spread fear and to achieve a political goal and fake news is a powerful way to spread misinformation in order to create a false balance. Cyber threats are a popular way to pose danger to a state as these incidences are extremely hard to trace back. An example of this can be seen through the attack of the Australian parliament house. It lost important information to whoever attacked it. Although it was assumed to be China, there is no way to prove it. The term ‘cyber arms race’ is used to describe the sharp increase of cybersecurity measures to help defend each state. Reardon and Choucri (2012) write: ‘realist theories of deterrence, crisis management, and conflict may be used to understand whether cyberspace is stabilizing or destabilizing, whether cyber technologies will be a new source of conflict or of peace, and whether states will engage in cyber arms racing.’
A phenomenon that has occurred from all this is ‘Homo Digitalis.’ It has been described as a “new type of hyper empowered individuals, networked, globally connected and more potent than ever before” by Patrikarakos. Three trends have been identified within this notion:
power has shifted from hierarchies and institutions to individual citizens and networks of citizens
the narrative dimension arguably more important than he physical dimension of warfare
modern conflicts tend to take place between a state and non state actors or be a grey area of conflict
As Richard W. Mansbach and Kirsten L. Tayler stated in the textbook, “the spread of irregular conflict has challenged armies that were designed to fight conventional interstate conflicts.” An example of this phenomenon can be found in Farah Baker, a teenage girl from Gaza who went viral after she begun posting about her experience of war. This helped change the narrative and encouraged the world to shift against Israel.
This week in INTS207, we looked at security after conflict. We examined the different IR theories regarding how to prevent war, how peacekeeping operations really work, and how to deal with justice after conflict.
The three key points I wish to discuss in this blog post include:
The variations between how Constructivist, Marxists, Liberals and Realists believe war can be prevented.
In relation to creating peace, one size does not fit all. Operations, such as the UN, must disregard their “top down” approach if they wish to obtain genuine peace.
Sustainable peace is difficult to maintain. Even if two counterparts reach an agreement, it is not always true or lasting.
The method behind preventing war is heavily debated among the IR theorists.
Constructivist’s focus on the importance of ‘norms’ and the consequences that will occur if these are broken. They highlight that using force is becoming less and less acceptable and that if there is more focus on the price of breaking these norms, war can be prevented. They also argue that maintaining alliances and sharing common identities with other states is another prevention method.
Additionally, Marxists claim that disparities between workers and the elite create tension and therefore lead to war. They argue that if there was a stronger focus on the inequalities within and among countries, war could be prevented.
One of the most prominent Liberal theories includes the Democratic Peace Theory. The theory is based on the idea that democracies do not go to war, and that the more democracies we have determines the more peace we have. However, this theory is not considered accurate because even if no two democracies have fought each other, they are not always purely peaceful. They also regard collective security as a war prevention method.
Realists suppose that the balance of power is essential to preventing war. They believe that the presence of bi-polar power between the strongest states in the global system will maintain peace.
The UN peacekeepers have an imperative role in maintaining peace after conflict. However, their work has been criticised for not attempting to understand the complexities within local places. It is difficult to achieve peace in a place that you do not understand. In 2012, 96.34% of all peace keeping forces were male, making it challenging for women in affected areas to receive support. Similarly, when peacekeepers visited Haiti in 2005, only 100 out of 700 personnel spoke French, making it impossible for them to properly assist the locals.
Moreover, there are many obstacles of peace. Although peace is simply defined as a formal agreement between two warring parties, true peace is difficult to achieve. It takes several rounds of negotiation to make the tiniest amount of progress, parties often become mistrustful of one another and relapses of conflict are common. This can be proved through the 1994 Rwandan genocide, despite a peace accord being signed in 1993. This can also be seen in El Salvador today through the gang crime, high murder rates and malnutrition that has occurred even after the UN declared it a peacekeeping success. As this weeks reading suggests, there is a “long list of human threats to human security in post-conflict situations: violations of human rights; job and income security; violent crimes…”
GEMMA 