Monetising the dividual self: the emergence of the lifestyle blog and influencers in Malaysia
New York; Oxford:
Berghahn
(2019), xiii, 221 pp., figures, bibliogr. p.199-216, index
ISBN 978-1-78920-118-5 (hbk); 978-1-78920-119-2 (ebook)
"Combining theoretical and empirical discussions with shorter thick description case studies, this book offers an anthropological exploration of the emergence in Malaysia of lifestyle bloggers – precursors to current social media microcelebrities and influencers. It tracks the transformation of personal blogs, which attracted readers with spontaneous and authentic accounts of everyday life, into lifestyle blogs that generate income through advertising and foreground consumerist lifestyles. It argues that lifestyle blogs are dialogically constituted between the blogger, the readers, and the blog itself, and challenges the assumption of a unitary self by proposing that lifestyle blogs can best be understood in terms of the dividual self." (Publisher)
Contents
Brief chronology of personal and lifestyle blogging in Malaysia, xii
Introduction: Anthroblogia: participant observation and blogging in Malaysia, 1
1 The blogs as assemblage: agency and affordances, 11
2 January 2006: blogwars, hit sluts, and authenticity in the personal blogosphere, 28
3 The blogger and her blog: (dis)assembling the dividual self, 46
4 May 2007: assembling genres, 71
5 Assembling blogs and bloggers, 82
6 April 2007: voicy consumers and negotiating networked publics, 108
7 Assembling a blog market, 123
8 January 2009: negotiating the authentic advertorial, 148
9 Assembling lifestyles, 162
10 October 2009: regional blogmeet, 178
Conclusions: the dividual self and emergence of the lifestyle blog, 189
Introduction: Anthroblogia: participant observation and blogging in Malaysia, 1
1 The blogs as assemblage: agency and affordances, 11
2 January 2006: blogwars, hit sluts, and authenticity in the personal blogosphere, 28
3 The blogger and her blog: (dis)assembling the dividual self, 46
4 May 2007: assembling genres, 71
5 Assembling blogs and bloggers, 82
6 April 2007: voicy consumers and negotiating networked publics, 108
7 Assembling a blog market, 123
8 January 2009: negotiating the authentic advertorial, 148
9 Assembling lifestyles, 162
10 October 2009: regional blogmeet, 178
Conclusions: the dividual self and emergence of the lifestyle blog, 189
