Research
Journal Articles
“'You’re Here for the Makeup and for the Tea': An Analysis of Jackie Aina’s Racialized, Feminized, and Cultural Labor”
— Mel Monier // The Projector (2024)
This article presents Nigerian-American YouTuber Jackie Aina’s content as a case study to explore how Black women navigate hypervisibility and digital labor in online spaces. On one hand, hypervisibility allows Black women to connect and find each other and to form new representations amidst problematic media and social stereotypes. On the other, it leaves Black women extremely vulnerable to online harassment and violence. I present this paradox as the “precarity of visibility,” a framework that illuminates the tensions between the benefit of hypervisibility and the harm of online harassment.
This article also considers how algorithmic bias and online harassment are inextricably linked to race and gender by examining Aina’s digital experiences as a Black woman and digital content creator. I discuss how Aina herself describes her experiences online, from receiving racist comments to the physical and emotional labor she expends to monitor and protect her space. Aina performs multiple levels of paid and unpaid labor by building affective communities with her audience, navigating racism and algorithmic bias online, and protecting her digital spaces from racial and gender-based violence. My analysis aims to illuminate the significant gaps in discussions surrounding digital content creators and racialized feminized labor that often render Black women, their labor, and their contributions invisible.
“'Rest as Resistance:' Black Cyberfeminism, Collective Healing and Liberation on @TheNapMinistry”
— Mel Monier // Communication, Culture & Critique (2023)
Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry, uses rest as a “healing mechanism” and a form of resistance. With a vibrant social media following, the Nap Ministry builds upon a strong history of Black feminist activism that centers the lived experiences of Black women. According to Hersey, rest is personal and political, a fight against the commodification and exploitation of laboring Black folks from chattel slavery to contemporary grind and hustle culture. This article explores how Hersey builds upon a lineage of Black women’s activism in digital spaces while also exploring rest, “soul care,” and communal healing as ideologies rooted in Black (cyber)feminism. I argue that Nap Ministry constellates Womanism, Black (cyber)feminism, and Black liberation theory by promoting the power of rest, encouraging resistance against what bell hooks describes as the “imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy” that exploits Black women’s labor and renders their voices invisible.
Online Publications
“Time to Be Real?: Nostalgia, Authenticity, and the Digital Return to the Everyday”
— Jasmine Banks, Mel Monier, and Olivia Stowell // Flow (2023)
In this essay, we explore how BeReal offers a nostalgic return to the “authenticity” of early social media platforms and an incitement to realness, while also functioning as a public display of intimate everydayness. Merging the “authentic” with the “mundane” in public, BeReal satisfies seemingly divergent desires for “realness” and “performance” in online spaces, providing an alternative to the hyper-curated feeds of other platforms through its seamless synthesis of the public and the private. Through its particular affordances, such as the unpredictability of the “Time to BeReal” notification, the lack of algorithmic boosting, and the absence of sharing/reposting features, BeReal raises the question of whether it is possible to achieve authenticity in the digital world, and what privacy we might give up to do so.
“Monstrous Maternity: Re-Examining Twilight and Bodily Sovereignty Through Generic Horror Conventions”
— Mel Monier // Horror Scholar (2022)
This paper looks at how the final two installments of the Twilight saga: Breaking Dawn Part One (2011) and Breaking Dawn Part Two (2012) deviate from themes of romance in their depiction of a multitude of transformations Bella undergoes: from unwed virgin to mother and human to undead/vampire, each change is marked by a traumatic bodily experience in which Bella is stripped of her bodily sovereignty.
I employ queer and feminist media studies and horror studies, particularly gothic horror, body horror, and gynaehorror, to reexamine the representations of Bella Swan’s body and disembodiment. I argue that the films depict Bella’s pregnant body as unfamiliar and monstrous while simultaneously forcibly ascribing to gendered heteropatriarchal expectations.
“'Too Dark for Dark Academia?’ An Exploration of Dark Academia Aesthetics and Black Women Digital Content Creators”
— Mel Monier // Post45 (2022)
Is it possible to be too dark for dark academia? And the bigger, too often overlooked side of the same question: how do Black women find pleasure through engagement with these hostile digital spaces? Despite the overwhelming whiteness of dark academia writ large, Black creators use digital platforms to extend the imaginaries and possibilities of dark academic texts and aesthetics. Furthermore, digital sites can serve as spaces for Black women interested in academia and academic life to build and find community while also reframing their relationship to academic spaces that are often elitist, inaccessible, and hostile to women of color. I know that other Black women are drawn to dark academia, yet it can be difficult to navigate the aesthetic and its community when you rarely see yourself represented.
Dissertation: Trans Masculinity, Pregnancy, and Identity
My dissertation project combines archival/news media research of representations of trans masculine pregnancy from 2000 to the present and qualitative interviews with trans masculine folks about representations of trans masculinity, attitudes and experiences with pregnancy, and digital media use for community-building and information sharing.
Aims:
center trans masculine voices and perspectives in their own words
emphasize trans joy and life
discuss trans masculinity and trans masculine pregnancy, under-rexplored topics in media studies
Collaborative Projects
Trans BIPOC TikTok Users
Interview-based research on trans BIPOC users experiences with TikTok and content moderation // Conducted with Dr. Oliver Haimson (University of Michigan School of Information)
Black Horror Podcasters
Interview-based research on Black Horror Podcaster’s engagement with horror, fandom, and digital labor // Conducted with Kristen Leer (University of Michigan Department of Communication and Media)
Black Women and Online Dating
Interview-based research on Black women’s experiences with online dating, fetishization, and platform affordances // Conducted with Jasmine Banks, Miranda Reynaga, Dr. Monique Ward (University of Michigan Department of Psychology) and Dr. Apryl Williams (University of Michigan Department of Communication and Media)