1. Legal Anthropologist of Gor!
a research conundrum
John Carter McKnight
PhD Student,
Human & Social Dimensions of Science & Technology
Arizona State University

2. the conundrum
what to do when
the customs of your research site
are at odds with
those of your professional community
3. the research question
how is canon deployed
in Second Life Gorean
roleplay communities
for political ends?
4. who cares?
the political wielding of canon within and among communities is relatively (totally?) unexplored at the micro level
and something of a pressing issue at the global level: fundamentalisms, strict construction
SL Gor as a process and culture model
5. but
methodolgical/ethical issues
are at least as important!
internet social science research
norms contrast powerfully with
those of the community at issue
wish it away? side with the
professional community?
or?
6. whats Gor?
28 novels by John Norman
from 1967 to 2009
Edgar Rice Burroughs pastiche
Ideology of slavery and
absolute female subjugation
an ontological politics
(Law 2004) of essentialism
7. Goreans before SL
novels out of print 1988-2007
fandom built around readily available used paperbacks
Lifestyle Gor and online forums
a fandom of doing more than making
focus on social/sexual relations
private, quiet, underground
8. then came Second Life
~50,000 active Goreanroleplayers in SL!
(Au, 2009)
2007 - recurring conflict between GoreanRPers and SL mainstream
retreat behind the silk curtain Gorean autarky
building,machinima,fashion - and RP
9. why study SL Gor?
very little academic work done
(Bardzell & Odom 2008, Sixma 2009)
important site of
online governance
a larger political question
the appeal and implications
of submission
10. but Goreans dont like us!
after the 2007 conflicts, many Goreans wary of mainstream interaction
particular aversion to academics
normative conflicts
bad methodology
above all, that conflict of ontological politics
11. a Goreanoldtimer says
You might want to be careful how many people know that you are a) male IRL and b) doing research.
Those of us who have been at this for a long time (I have about 15 years myself, including some time as a lifestyler) have seen way too many half cocked academics throw down the abuse card at us, and tend to be gun shy.
(Tiberius 2010)
12. how to study an RP community?
from the outside - observation
reliance on self-reporting but with Gor theres that ontological-political gap
an outsider can see the what, but not feel the why (Kendall 2009, 2010)
no easy external observers position in SL, unlike LJ roleplay (the visitor tag as lab coat)
13. how to study an RP community?
from the inside - participation
enables access to emotive dimension
breaks the insider/outsider dichotomy
reverses power relations from lab coat and clipboard to n00b (Hine 2000)
n00bery is a license to ask research questions
14. but SL introduces complications
disclosure
reflexivity
negotiating the ontological-political gap
15. disclosure - the anthro norm
16. profile disclosure
breaks the magic circle
violates norms of RP
arguably breaches general SL norms
privileges the culture of the observer over that of the participant
(see Bardzell 2010 for a nice analysis of the SL profile)
17. and yet
non-disclosure is ethically dubious at best
invites exactly the reaction its intended to avoid (betrayal over normative violations)
expected/required/mandated by observer culture (e.g., IRB approval/exemption)
18. reflexivity
SL Gor as digitally *embodied*
the (digital) body is the research site and ontological-political battleground
issues of canon are issues of the essential nature of the gendered body
The Gorean experience is that of both the male and female, the privileged and the enslaved
19. unnatural acts
this is why cross-gender RP is both anathema and essential
not the only invisible border crossing:
cross-gender RP reflects the traversing of the IC/OOC borderlands/la frontera
the Gorean doesnt live in the essentialism, but in the ironic duality
20. squaring the circle
change the ontological-political conflict from a bug to a feature
pair Gorean essentialism with postmodernism
analyze Gor through the lens of cyborg feminism (Harraway 1991)
21. the cyborg
is resolutely committed to partiality, irony, intimacy, and perversity. It is oppositional, utopian, and completely without innocence.
No longer structured by the polarity of public and private, the cyborg defines a technological polis based partially on a revolution of social relations in the oikos, the household. (1991, 151)
This seems an excellent job description for a critical participant observer of SL Gor!
22. what does this all mean?
embody the dichotomies
male/female
free/slave
IC/OOC
observer/participant
reflexivity
dont privilege
observer norms
23. a cyborg feminist methodology?
We usually think that holding to the protocols of experimentation and verification is the most difficult thing. But in fact the most difficult thing is to renounce the truth and the possibility of verification, to remain as long as possible on the enigmatic, ambivalent, and reversible side of thought.
(Baudrillard, 2000)
24. contact me!
John Carter McKnight, MIA, JD
john.mcknight@asu.edu
johncartermcknight.com
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Second Life: KaseidoQuandry