Papers by Julia Obermayr
Re:visit - Humanities and Medicin in Dialogue. Vol. 3 No. 1 (2024): Medial Medicine / Digital Medicine: (Re-)Negotiations of Medical Knowledge Between Transformation, Empowerment, and Politics, 2024
The Covid-19 pandemic continuously affects people around the world, exposing the already existing... more The Covid-19 pandemic continuously affects people around the world, exposing the already existing social interconnectedness and economic interdependencies of our times. Revisiting pandemic fiction, as well as crises narratives in literature and other cultural productions in general, has suddenly become a coping strategy to counteract the effects of physical distancing, but in particular the experiences of lockdowns. Interestingly, since the early stages of the pandemic in the Western world in spring 2020, numerous artists have not only dissected the reality of confinement across diverse genres but more so provided the public with uplifting content in various audiovisual formats – such as short films, web series, and music videos. Although anglophone music videos are more broadly known, many culture specific uplifting narratives emerged also in Romance languages. Research results from psychology, social sciences and musicology all suggest that in times of crises listening to music, watching music videos and music-making have great potential as coping strategies and tools for mood regulation, significantly contributing to well-being. In this article, we analyze from an interdisciplinary cultural, film, and media studies perspective how three music videos in Romance languages (No tengas miedo by El Canijo de Jerez, Ya pasará by Carlos Rivera, and Andrà tutto bene by Jack Savoretti) encode the uplifting storytelling, portraying the human need for connection, on a narratological macro (fictional arc) and micro level (textual and audiovisual cues). Across national, cultural, and linguistic borders, these Corona Fictions demonstrate how fragile our social fabric is while, at the same time, strengthening the feeling of solidarity, togetherness/ unity, and cohesion in their representations and approach to the Covid-19 pandemic. With this contribution, we intend to enrich the existing research from the intersections of psychology, social sciences and musicology with a specific cultural and media studies perspective beyond cultural products in English.
4. The Lesbian Code
transcript Verlag eBooks, Dec 31, 2020
Corona Fictions Agents: Cinematic Representations of Hopeful Pandemic Protagonists in Early Corona Fictions
Edition Kulturwissenschaft, Apr 3, 2023
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), May 12, 2023
The Covid-19 pandemic continuously affects people around the world, exposing the already existing... more The Covid-19 pandemic continuously affects people around the world, exposing the already existing social interconnectedness and economic interdependencies of our times. Revisiting pandemic fiction, as well as, crises narratives in literature and other cultural productions in general, has suddenly become a coping strategy to counteract the effects of physical distancing, but in particular the experiences of lockdowns. Interestingly, since the early stages of the pandemic in the Western world in spring 2020, numerous artists have not only dissected the reality of confinement across diverse genres but more so provided the public with uplifting content in various audiovisual formatssuch as short films, web series, and music videos. In this article we will mainly take on the latter producing material about the pandemic during the pandemic, portraying the human need for connection, uplifting narratives and images. Across national, cultural, and linguistic borders, Corona Fictions (cf. Research Group Pandemic Fictions 2020) demonstrate how fragile our social fabric is while, at the same time, strengthening the feeling of solidarity, togetherness/ unity, and cohesion. Hence, this article will examine Corona Fictions music videos for their understanding and depiction of uplifting narratives in these challenging times.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Jun 13, 2023
The interdisciplinary conference entitled Pandemic Protagonists. Viral (Re)Actions in Pandemic an... more The interdisciplinary conference entitled Pandemic Protagonists. Viral (Re)Actions in Pandemic and Corona Fictions was held as part of the Corona Fictions project 2 from June 1 st to June 3 rd , 2023, at Graz University of Technology. It marked the culmination of a year of joint work on the recently published volume of the same title 3 , which stood at the center of the conference. Within this framework, the organising committee 4 invited all scholars whose contributions had appeared in the volume.
Lockdown-Corona-Fictions als Seismograph für sozialen Zusammenhalt
transcript Verlag eBooks, Feb 6, 2023
Pandemic Protagonists (Re)Claiming Agency: An Introduction
transcript Verlag eBooks, Dec 31, 2023
Pandemic Protagonists
During the Covid-19 pandemic numerous early Corona Fictions (including films) emerged, creating a... more During the Covid-19 pandemic numerous early Corona Fictions (including films) emerged, creating a multitude of pandemic protagonists across media. The aim of this article is to examine these protagonists of two European Corona Fictions comedies: 8 Rue de l'Humanité (2021) and ¡Ni te me acerques! (2020). Applying Stuart Hall's (1997) circuit of culture lens (encoding/decoding model), as well as various concepts of hope (e.g.
Authors
Edition Kulturwissenschaft, Apr 3, 2023
Sozialer Zusammenhalt in der Krise
Fiktionale Erzählungen dienen als Spiegel der Welt. Egal ob in Liebes-, Helden-oder Katastropheng... more Fiktionale Erzählungen dienen als Spiegel der Welt. Egal ob in Liebes-, Helden-oder Katastrophengeschichten, zumeist erzählen sie vom zwischenmenschlichen Miteinander. An solchen Geschichten lassen sich das Ausmaß sozialer Beziehungen, emotionaler Verbundenheit sowie von Gemeinwohlorientierung innerhalb von Gruppen ablesen, die als Determinanten für sozialen Zusammenhalt angesehen werden können. So geben auch die fiktionalen Werke, die im Zuge der Corona-Krise entstehen, sogenannte Corona Fictions, Indikationen dafür, wie gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt vor allem in der Anfangsphase der Krise er-und gelebt wurde. Ebenfalls zeigen sie, dass die globale Ausnahmesituation zu kreativen Formen des Miteinanders unter den Literatur-und Kulturschaffenden geführt hat.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Jan 12, 2023
The Corona Fictions Database 2 is an essential part of the research project Corona Fictions. On V... more The Corona Fictions Database 2 is an essential part of the research project Corona Fictions. On Viral Narratives in Times of Pandemics funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF (P 34571-G). The team members are Elisabeth Hobisch, Yvonne Völkl (project leader), Julia Obermayr, Tommaso Meozzi, Albert Göschl and Daniel Milkovits. 3 As a result of the Covid-19 health crisis declared as a pandemic in early March 2020 (cf. Adhanom Ghebreyesus 2020), political and media discourse focused mainly on medical and economical solutions to thwart and contain the pandemic. The public, however, largely turned to cultural productions in order to make meaning of and to cope with this unprecedented event (cf. Obermayr/Völkl 2022a). The main purpose of the Corona Fictions project is to collect, categorize and analyze the cultural production resulting from this global pandemic, in regards to its social function and constitutive power determining how we perceive this extraordinary situation. In order to understand the composition, compilation and functioning of the Corona Fictions Database, we describe in the following the corpus entering the bibliographical database, the process of data collection and structuringincluding the specific challenges encountered in this processas well as the functionality of the database. Corona Fictions When the Covid-19 pandemic was declared, on the one hand, people started to consult existing 'pandemic fictions', meaning "literary and cultural productions, which rely strongly on the representation and functionalization of epi-and pandemics" (Research Group Pandemic Fictions 2020, 323). On the other hand, they started to produce their own narratives in diverse media to process these extraordinary experiences. Within weeks and months, authors and directorsprofessional and non professional alikecreated and distributed countless diaries, anthologies of essays and poems, web series and music videos, often online. Knowing that generally cultural productions not only document life as it is, but also determine and modify our view of the world, 4 the main objective of our open access database is to document Corona Fictions, understood as a constitutive factor of what people experience as the Covid-19 pandemic and as a future cultural heritage. Our main focus lies on the romance languages Spanish, Italian and French, but as the pandemicaccording to its natureis happening on a global scale, we are also inclined to additionally include cultural productions in other languages into our database.
Altre Modernità
In March 2020, more than 100 governments around the world imposed partial or full lockdown polici... more In March 2020, more than 100 governments around the world imposed partial or full lockdown policies prohibiting people to leave their homes except for activities deemed essential (e.g. procuring food, going to work) to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmissions. Furthermore, authorities, media and peers encouraged people to adopt physical distancing behaviors, requesting not to touch each other and even keep a distance of at least one to two meters from one another. Cultural and literary productions—so-called Corona Fictions—represent and process the multitude of ways the population perceived and coped with the lockdown situation during the pandemic and its diverse effects. While literary texts written during confinement and published in anthologies focus on emotional states enhanced by the psychological impact of the lockdown, the narratives in films such as Norberto Ramos del Val’s ¡Ni te me acerques! (2020) focus on negotiating the process of physical distancing itself. This contribution wi...
Pensamiento, Pandemia y Big Data
En marzo de 2020, cuando la OMS declaró la pandemia de COVID-19, 1 de repente, las sociedades del... more En marzo de 2020, cuando la OMS declaró la pandemia de COVID-19, 1 de repente, las sociedades del mundo entero se encontraron en estado de emergencia. Mientras la política empezó a consultar a especialistas médicos, tales como virólogxs, epidemiólogxs y expertxs en salud pública, la gente empezó a gestionar la situación consultando producciones culturales existentes sobre situaciones similares. Hubo, por ejemplo, una lectura pública en línea de La peste (1947) de Albert Camus en Austria 2 y en las librerías se agotaron los libros relacionados con enfermedades y epidemias. A la vez, la gente se puso a escribir con el fin de documentar la situación, de consolar y entretener, 3 pero también para mejor gestionar las propias experiencias traumáticas que resultaban de la pandemia. 4 Sin embargo, debido al actual paisaje mediático, la repercusión de la situación experimentada como excepcional-hubo siempre epidemias, enfermedades
Corona Fictions as Cultural Indicators of Social Cohesion and Resilience in the Wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic
Monthly Quarterly, 2022
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, many Europeans have turned to preexisting written a... more Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, many Europeans have turned to preexisting written and audiovisual pandemic fictions for better sense-making and as a coping strategy. Two years into the crisis, on a cultural level, numerous European countries have since actively produced their own Corona Fictions offering narratives that deal with the current pandemic. On a
societal level, these narratives early on hinted at potential ruptures in social cohesion. Cultural productions commonly function as an enabler of social cohesion, fostering mutual understanding and a feeling of togetherness, particularly when considering the participatory nature of narratives on the internet or in literary anthologies. Originating in
a research project of a much larger scope, this article explores the following questions in two francophone cultural productions of the Covid-19 pandemic. In which areas is social cohesion shaken or fractured? How is social cohesion experienced, processed, and expressed? Does the reception of Corona Fictions function as a coping strategy? How do
gender issues/inequalities aggravated by the pandemic translate into the representation of female characters in Corona Fictions?
in Marina O. Hertrampf: "Corona: crisis or change? How crises unsettle and change cultures.", PhiN, 24 (Beiheft), 2020
After the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic by the WHO on March 11, 2020, the corona crisis d... more After the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic by the WHO on March 11, 2020, the corona crisis discourse quickly turned into a global pandemic crisis discourse. This discourse was and still is not limited to media and politics, but also penetrates into fictional productions constituting a new corpus, which can be subsumed under the term Corona Fictions. However, Corona Fictions pertain to a more generally assumed genre of pandemic fiction, i.e. literary and cultural productions, which rely strongly on the representation and functionalization of pandemics. Thus, Corona Fictions not only draw on everyday media and political discourse, but also on previous pandemic fiction. Analyzing Corona Fictions as part of pandemic fiction, this paper reveals parallel structures between pandemic narratives and the classical drama.
Transnational community building through Quebec’s first Lesbian Web Series: decoding lesbianism on the example of Féminin/Féminin
Contemporary French Civilization, 2019
This article discusses the recent phenomenon of Lesbian Web Series – a new digital online format ... more This article discusses the recent phenomenon of Lesbian Web Series – a new digital online format – on the first Quebecois example Féminin/Féminin, which operates on a transnational scale generating a female- centered community across national borders while at the same time nurturing Quebec’s cinematic traditions. Exploring lesbian identity in this context, this article seeks to investigate how Lesbian Web Series shift community building from a local to a transnational level by using new media and facilitating a participatory (online) culture.
Cet article traite du phénomène récent des webséries lesbiennes, un nouveau format numérique, à partir du premier exemple québécois Féminin/Féminin, qui intervient à une échelle transnationale, générant une communauté centrée sur les femmes par-delà les frontières nationales, et nourrissant en même temps les traditions cinématographiques du Québec. En explorant l’identité lesbienne dans ce contexte, cet article cherche à enquêter sur la façon dont les webséries lesbiennes élargissent la formation d’une appartenance communautaire du niveau local au niveau transnational en utilisant les nouveaux médias et en permettant une culture en ligne participative.
“Queering ‘Web’ Families: Cultural Kinship through Lesbian Web Series”
Click and Kin: Transnational Identity and Quick Media, 2016
“Queering ‘Web’ Families: Cultural Kinship through Lesbian Web Series”, in: May Friedman & Silvia... more “Queering ‘Web’ Families: Cultural Kinship through Lesbian Web Series”, in: May Friedman & Silvia Schultermandl (eds.) Click and Kin: Transnational Identity and Quick Media.Toronto/Buffalo/London: University of Toronto Press. (2016), 97-117.
Click and Kin is an interdisciplinary examination of how our increasingly mobile and networked age is changing the experience of kinship and connection. Focusing on how identity formation is affected by quick media such as instant messaging, video chat, and social networks, the contributors to this collection use ethnographic and textual analyses, as well as autobiographical approaches, to demonstrate the ways in which the ability to communicate across national boundaries is transforming how we grow together and apart as families, communities, and nations. The essays in Click and Kin span the globe, examining transnational connections that touch in the United States, Canada, Mexico, India, Pakistan, and elsewhere. Together, they offer a unique reflection on the intersection of new media, identity politics, and kinship in the twenty-first century.
V o n j u l i a o b e r m a y r Der folgende Artikel geht der Frage nach, welche Besonderheiten d... more V o n j u l i a o b e r m a y r Der folgende Artikel geht der Frage nach, welche Besonderheiten die "literatura sorda", die spanische Ge hörlosenliteratur, in einem Print medium aufweist, woran sich die gebärdensprachliche Erzählweise der gehörlosen AutorInnen formal im Text erkennen lässt und wie sich schließlich diese narrative Diskurs tradition -basierend auf einer kar nevalesken Erzähltradition -auf die Identitätskonstruktion Gehörloser auswirkt. Hierfür werden die spa nischen Werke Háblame a los ojos (2004) sowie Sordo ¡y qué! (2007) in ihren soziopolitischen und histo rischen Kontexten, die sich auf die drei kulturellen Hauptvektoren Ge hörlosigkeit, Gebärdensprache und Gehörlosenorganisationen stützen, genauer untersucht.
Reviews by Julia Obermayr
“B. Steady”
Pride, 2016
Read full review online: http://www.pride.at/ausgabe/pride-nr-150februar/
or: “B. Steady”, in: P... more Read full review online: http://www.pride.at/ausgabe/pride-nr-150februar/
or: “B. Steady”, in: Pride 150/Februar 2016, Linz/Wels: Homosexuellen Initiative (HOSI), 34-35.
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Papers by Julia Obermayr
societal level, these narratives early on hinted at potential ruptures in social cohesion. Cultural productions commonly function as an enabler of social cohesion, fostering mutual understanding and a feeling of togetherness, particularly when considering the participatory nature of narratives on the internet or in literary anthologies. Originating in
a research project of a much larger scope, this article explores the following questions in two francophone cultural productions of the Covid-19 pandemic. In which areas is social cohesion shaken or fractured? How is social cohesion experienced, processed, and expressed? Does the reception of Corona Fictions function as a coping strategy? How do
gender issues/inequalities aggravated by the pandemic translate into the representation of female characters in Corona Fictions?
Cet article traite du phénomène récent des webséries lesbiennes, un nouveau format numérique, à partir du premier exemple québécois Féminin/Féminin, qui intervient à une échelle transnationale, générant une communauté centrée sur les femmes par-delà les frontières nationales, et nourrissant en même temps les traditions cinématographiques du Québec. En explorant l’identité lesbienne dans ce contexte, cet article cherche à enquêter sur la façon dont les webséries lesbiennes élargissent la formation d’une appartenance communautaire du niveau local au niveau transnational en utilisant les nouveaux médias et en permettant une culture en ligne participative.
Click and Kin is an interdisciplinary examination of how our increasingly mobile and networked age is changing the experience of kinship and connection. Focusing on how identity formation is affected by quick media such as instant messaging, video chat, and social networks, the contributors to this collection use ethnographic and textual analyses, as well as autobiographical approaches, to demonstrate the ways in which the ability to communicate across national boundaries is transforming how we grow together and apart as families, communities, and nations. The essays in Click and Kin span the globe, examining transnational connections that touch in the United States, Canada, Mexico, India, Pakistan, and elsewhere. Together, they offer a unique reflection on the intersection of new media, identity politics, and kinship in the twenty-first century.
Reviews by Julia Obermayr
or: “B. Steady”, in: Pride 150/Februar 2016, Linz/Wels: Homosexuellen Initiative (HOSI), 34-35.