Siphoning and Sabotage

IF 1.2 Q2 CULTURAL STUDIES
S. Gerson
{"title":"Siphoning and Sabotage","authors":"S. Gerson","doi":"10.1215/01642472-10013346","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n In a moment of electrified literary worldmaking, the unnamed protagonist of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man steals electricity to power the 1,369 lightbulbs and radio phonography in his subterranean refuge. Narratively and materially, electricity theft diagnoses the uneven access to and impacts of electrification, while also (temporarily) creating alternative infrastructural relationships that refuse exclusion. Centered on Ellison's Invisible Man and its representation of electricity theft, this essay analyzes a constellation of US electrifictions focused on the relationship between Blackness and electricity. Going beyond a traditional literary close reading, this essay triangulates a reading of Invisible Man with a history of General Electric's “electric Slave” advertisements from the interwar period and concludes with an analysis of a 2010 WXYZ-TV Detroit news segment focused on electricity theft. GE's advertisements necessitate a reexamination of US cultural constructions of electrification as inherently progressive and instead highlight the ideologies of unfreedom and exploitation that undergird electrified modernity. While the 2010 news segment may seem of a different place and time than Ellison's novel, both are focused on moments where racialized individuals come into contact with the large-scale system of the electricity grid and the structures of power the grid both metaphorizes and materializes. Like in Invisible Man, the electricity thieves in the news segment do more than diagnose the racist impacts and exclusions of electrified modernity, they also, through their illicit acts of siphoning that redistribute electric current, materially intervene in and reimagine the larger infrastructural system.","PeriodicalId":47701,"journal":{"name":"Social Text","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social Text","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-10013346","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CULTURAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

In a moment of electrified literary worldmaking, the unnamed protagonist of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man steals electricity to power the 1,369 lightbulbs and radio phonography in his subterranean refuge. Narratively and materially, electricity theft diagnoses the uneven access to and impacts of electrification, while also (temporarily) creating alternative infrastructural relationships that refuse exclusion. Centered on Ellison's Invisible Man and its representation of electricity theft, this essay analyzes a constellation of US electrifictions focused on the relationship between Blackness and electricity. Going beyond a traditional literary close reading, this essay triangulates a reading of Invisible Man with a history of General Electric's “electric Slave” advertisements from the interwar period and concludes with an analysis of a 2010 WXYZ-TV Detroit news segment focused on electricity theft. GE's advertisements necessitate a reexamination of US cultural constructions of electrification as inherently progressive and instead highlight the ideologies of unfreedom and exploitation that undergird electrified modernity. While the 2010 news segment may seem of a different place and time than Ellison's novel, both are focused on moments where racialized individuals come into contact with the large-scale system of the electricity grid and the structures of power the grid both metaphorizes and materializes. Like in Invisible Man, the electricity thieves in the news segment do more than diagnose the racist impacts and exclusions of electrified modernity, they also, through their illicit acts of siphoning that redistribute electric current, materially intervene in and reimagine the larger infrastructural system.
虹吸和破坏
在一个电气化的文学世界里,拉尔夫·埃里森(Ralph Ellison)的《看不见的人》(Invisible Man)的无名主人公偷电,为他地下避难所的1369个灯泡和留声机供电。从叙事和物质上讲,电力盗窃反映了电气化的不平等接入和影响,同时(暂时)创造了拒绝排斥的替代基础设施关系。本文以埃里森的《看不见的人》及其对偷电行为的表现为中心,分析了美国一系列的电力事件,重点关注黑人与电力的关系。这篇文章超越了传统的文学细读,将《看不见的人》与通用电气在两次世界大战之间的“电奴”广告的历史进行了三角分析,并以2010年WXYZ-TV底特律新闻片段的分析作为结论,该新闻片段关注的是电力盗窃。通用电气的广告有必要重新审视美国的电气化文化结构,因为它本质上是进步的,而不是强调作为电气化现代性基础的不自由和剥削的意识形态。尽管2010年的新闻片段似乎与埃里森的小说发生在不同的地点和时间,但两者都聚焦于种族化的个人接触大规模电网系统的时刻,以及电网隐喻和具体化的电力结构。就像在《看不见的人》中一样,新闻片段中的偷电贼不仅诊断了电气化现代性的种族主义影响和排斥,他们还通过非法的虹吸行为重新分配电流,实质性地干预和重新构想更大的基础设施系统。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
Social Text
Social Text CULTURAL STUDIES-
CiteScore
5.10
自引率
3.00%
发文量
19
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信