The dialogical processes of vernacular mediation: new media and the Karay-a ethnic group of the Philippines.

Abstract

This thesis examines the extent to which vernacular mediation, or the ongoing, sociohistorically situated, and discursive communicative acts through new media technologies, enables the cultural participation and emancipation of marginal groups. It investigates how the Ethnolinguistic group Karay‐a appropriated the Internet and digital music and video production technologies to reinvent their stereotyped identities, develop collectivity, and work towards the goal of bringing socioeconomic emancipation to their homeland of Antique in Western Philippines. By following a cultural studies approach to examine three cases of vernacular mediation, this thesis aims to explore how the dialogical interaction of new media technologies, audience or individual agency, institutional logics, and asymmetries in power enable and shape a specific emancipatory aim without foreclosing their future potentials. Through an analysis of the musical subgenre Original Kinaray‐a Music (OKM), the online community kinaray‐a.com, and the digital short film Handum produced by the marginal group, this thesis argues that vernacular mediation practices have the potential to facilitate cultural participation by enabling expressions and meanings to be reshaped and shared. The sharing of meanings adds to the social and cultural capitals of marginal individuals and enables them to forge social ties. These ties can lead to collective mobilization. However, the extent to which these actions challenge prevailing power structures and bring social emancipation depends too on the amount of capitals they possess vis a vis those who hold power in their milieu, the involvement of the majority, and the ability to innovate and adapt to their present needs.