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reality influences either his or her actions or behaviour in cyberspace. Venturing into
the world of cyberspace allows individuals to become somewhat detached from
reality. In other words, through the anonymity associated with cyberspace individuals
are allowed to create multiply identities which in turn allow them to escape cultural
boundaries of gender, race and age (Marneweck, 2005:76).However, it is argued
that online identities cannot be completely free from the social constraints that are
imposed in the real world(Westfall,2000). This essay argues that social identities
constructed in cyberspace are shaped by those constructed in offline realities.
Marneweck puts forward the idea that the study of identity and its influence on the
internet takes into consideration two theories. The first theory lies in the root and
ideas of postmodernism, where identity and society are characterised by multiplicity
and fluidity. (Reid, 1991; Turkle 1995, 1997, 1999 as cited in Marneweck, 2005:
21).The second theory suggests that context, history and primary identities play a
significant role in forming identity because individuals feel obliged to anchor their
online identity in their offline embodied self (Hardey, 2002:579 as citied in
Marneweck, 2006: 22). Both theories pave the foundation to understand how offline
realities influence the manner in which social identities in cyberspace are
constructed.
Chatrooms present individuals with the opportunity to transform into someone else,
someone completely different from their lived reality. An individual is able to take up
what is expressed as a fantasy identity. Fantasy identities are ideal versions of one
that constitute of the ideal physical appearance, personality, age and character traits.
Furthermore, Sigmund Freud argued that although everything that people are aware
of is stored in the conscious, there is an area of the mind in which underlying
emotions, beliefs, feelings, needs and fantasies are buried. These ideals are
inaccessible in real life. He termed this the unconscious mind. Thus, chatrooms are
seen as the environment in which the unconscious mind can be explored. In
addition, Marneweck argues that the the chatroom created an environment where
they could give expression to their true self without feeling shy (Marneweck, 2005:
79) or overwhelmed by social interaction. For example, Flame, a chatroom user,
described his offline personality as introverted and shy. However, in the chatroom he
came across as being obnoxious and outspoken. Similarly, Mouse, another
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chatroom user, also describes his offline personality as shy. Conversely, in the
chatroom he came across as being quite sociable. Fantasy identities are achieved
by the simple rule of anonymity, where the identity of a user remains hidden to other
users. Chatrooms allow people to experiment with their identity by changing their
age, history, personality, physical appearance, even their gender (Samovar, Porter
and McDaniel, 2009: 161).
In addition, cyberspace can also be used as a medium that allow individuals express
his or her real identities. Individuals are forced to use this option because social
constructions (such as religion) and the community, in which the individual is situated
in, may not approve of their identity. For example, in Atteridgeville, Pretoria a
thirteen-year-old lesbian girl was raped because she was open about her sexuality
(Sapa, 2011).Furthermore, in South Africa this type of rape is termed corrective
rape. Corrective rape is forced sex with a man to cure the womans sexuality
(Sapa, 2011).From the preceding statement it is seen that expressing ones sexually
orientation openly in society has a huge negative consequence for the individual.
Knowing that the individual will face the negative consequence associated with their
sexually orientation, he or she will rather express their sexually orientation in
cyberspace because they will not encounter any physical harm. The abovementioned points, to a certain degree, indicate the power relations that exist between
the offline realities and online realities.
Cyberspace does not only allow for the creation of identities. Offline society and
identities travel with individuals into cyberspace. Marneweck (2006:66) argues that
inequalities evident in society are also evident in the chatroom. An example of the
inequality within the chat room is the hierarchal structure of the room. Furthermore,
the level of education of the individual along with their expendable income also
influences their online realities. Some individuals may have advantages such as
more bandwidth, better technology, more developed technical skills or fluency in the
conversational language (Marneweck, 2006: 66).Therefore, these tools allow
certain individuals to control conversations in the chatroom as well as build a
prominent online identity(Marneweck, 2006).
For example, in February 2006 researchers launched a project called e-learning.
This project required learners from both The University of the Western Cape (UWC)
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and the University of Stellenbosch to engage in a personal reflexive way with issues
of community and identity (Rohleder et al., 2008: 131). Overall, the project was
successful. However, some underlying problems were indentified. Since the project
made use of electronic resources, it assumes we [the students] all have equal
access (Anonymous as cited in Rohleder et al., 2008 139).It was evident that
students from UWC came from socio-economic backgrounds that were less
resourced, in terms of computer facilities and internet access, compared to students
from the University of Stellenbosch. Due to their socio-economic circumstances,
students from UWC could only access computers and internet at their universities. In
addition, these students had to use computer labs and probably spend a long time to
waiting in queues to access the computer (Rohleder et al., 2008). In contrast,
students from the University of Stellenbosch most likely have internet access at
home and are more likely to have laptops, which they can use at university as
opposed to using computer labs.
Did these offline realities shape the way in online identities were shaped?
In my opinion it most certainly did. A hierarchy exist between students offline realities
with regard to power (poor vs. privileged) .These offline realities certainly shape the
social identities constructed in the chatroom. Many students felt that the chatroom
was an ineffective and a frustrating method of communicating with one another. The
chatroom communication was plagued by misunderstandings [and] long delays
between comments (SUN Student, n.d. as citied in Rohleder et al., 2008: 139).
Furthermore, students from the UWC found that group projects were inconvenient
because of the students not having access to computers as computers needed to
be booked in advance(UWC student, n.d. as cited in Rohleder et al., 2008: 139).
The patterns of power in offline realities found their way into cyberspace, especially
the patterns of class and inequality.
It is argued that often when people immigrate to countries, they face a kind of
identity crisis (Evans, n.d.). People assume that the country to which they immigrate
to shall be similar to their home country. However, upon arrival they discover that
their new country is not always as familiar as he/she might have hoped (Evans,
n.d.). This identity crisis often manifest in a plethora of patriotic declarations on
expat sites on the Net (Evans, n.d: 6). People tend to attach or identify themselves
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with symbols of their nationality. For example, South African blogger, now living in
Australia, associates his South African indentify with the manner in which he speaks,
the things he finds funny, his memories and the way in which he presents himself.
Similarly, The Homecoming Revolution Initiative is a website dedicated to publishing
alternative and optimistic news about South Africa (Evans, n.d).The tone of most
news articles published on the website is patriotic and optimistic. This illustrated that
offline identities of being patriotic shapes and constructs the social identities found
on the website.
The Homecoming Revolution Initiative also opened up a forum discussion panel,
which allowed people to participate in discussions regarding South Africas future.
The HR team assumed that South Africans would come forward in praise of their
country and publish positive personal testimonies on the forum ( Evans, n.d : 8).
Instead, most of comments or reports published by the forum users refer to violent
crimes , negative perceptions of the outcome of the Zumas trial and what it holds
for South Africas future( Evans, n.d : 7). Additionally the speech used by users is
described as a kind of racist hate speech( Evans, n.d :8). Users bring these
perceptions of negativity and racism from their offline realities into the cyberspace.
Some users even openly define themselves as Afrikaans speaking and adopt
names such as Afrikaner X or Boetie (Evans, n.d:8).
Evans (n.d.) argues that most of these dreadful comments came from homesick
youngsters who found themselves in cold, miserable and dirty parts of the world.
They suddenly feel a strong yearning for Johnny Clegg, biltong and braais (Evans,
n.d.). Ironically, instead of informing the world about South Africas untapped
potential (Evans, n.d: 10) and guaranteeing individuals safety, the site become a
thriving virtual community for the bewildered expats who were suffering from the
same demise (Evans, n.d: 10). The above example illustrates a direct relationship
between that the type of responses that appear in cyberspace (in this case the online
forum discussions) and the individuals living condition. Furthermore, the type of
experiences that occurred in their living condition also affected the type of responses
in cyberspace. As their living condition worsened, the type of responses become
more pessimistic and traitorous.
All the examples that I have used in this essay illustrate that offline realities and
online realties are not two separate worlds. Chatrooms are associated with
anonymity that allows individuals to create fantasy identities. However, offline
realities such race, social inequalities, education and socio-economic status also
play a vital role in the shaping and construction of online social identities in
cyberspace. This relationship indicates that offline realities are integrated into online
social identities, that is, they tend to overlap. However, futhur research should be
done to thoroughly understand and investigate the correlation between how offline
realities shape and construct online social identities.
Reference List
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