This article offers a feminist reading of the concepts of commodification, spatialisation and structuration laid out in Mosco (2009) . Using Generative AI as an example and a world majority perspective as a framework, this essay suggests that the myth of AI being a technology that is void of human interference has accelerated the speed at which gendered labour from the Global South is extracted. It calls for an examination of sites of labour extraction outside the Global North and an embodiment approach that takes into account the socio-material context under which technology is developed.

Abstract A feminist political economy of communication examines how resources are inequitably produced, distributed, and consumed in media between social groups and how gender—as an intersectional construct—is used to explain this inequity. While it is rooted in a critical political economy, it does more than give voices to the silenced or provide an alternative perspective to the dominant one. It aims to critique assumed gender-neutral macro-level concepts such as media economy. A number of feminist schools of thought (materialist feminism, Black feminism, technofeminism, select work from production studies) have informed this approach by theorizing gender relations vis-à-vis race and class through technologies and media work. In addition, feminists in global political economy, international relations, and economics provide frameworks to critique the assumed gender-neutral macro concepts such as international development, economies, and globalization. Feminist political economists are interested in using a gender lens to understand the evolution of capitalism. As such, they examine the relationship between gender, class, labor, value, and technologies in order to reveal the trajectory of capital. Women—as a demographic group—have been reshaped as consumers, workers, and family members in order to accommodate capital flow to overcome the overaccumulation problem inherent in capitalism. Gender—as a construct of power relations—has also been reconfigured to accommodate this flow.

This introductory chapter states that the edited volume problematizes dis/ability by examining the strengths and shortcomings of both embodiment and social constructionist approaches while contending that each approach can challenge, complicate, and compensate for the other. This chapter offers two contributions: first, situating critical disabilities studies (CDS) within an intersectionality theory framework that considers the impact of the relationships between dis/abilities and other forms of identity; second, situating a socially constructed, embodied, and intersectional approach in one or more of three disciplines—media studies, critical legal studies (CLS), and the cultural and social histories of embodiment. The chapter begins by exploring the tension and interplay between embodiment and social constructionist approaches to dis/abilities. It suggests that while both approaches reject a medical model of dis/abilities, they do not necessarily agree with each other. Then, the chapter discusses the two contributions that the edited volume makes to CDS. Afterward, it discusses how three disciplines—media studies, CLS, and the cultural and social histories of embodiments—have interrogated and applied these theoretical frameworks and accounted for the tensions between them. The chapter concludes by summarizing the 14 essays collected in the volume.

Lee asks media studies scholars to look beyond representations of dis/abilities and media accessibility by paying more attention to the relationship between the body and technologies. One way to do this is to examine how the materiality of technologies actively shapes the body, in particular how technical devices normalize non-normative bodies. She looks at two assistive technological devices—eyeglasses and Google Glass—and describes them as forms of media that enable users to experience the world beyond their immediate spatial and temporal limits. In this case, assistive technology does not simply remedy a body of defect, but it actively shapes, molds, and trains the body. Technologies challenge bodily limits and call into question what bodily normalcy is. For Lee, both medical and social constructionist models subscribe to a linear time-space or uni-dimensional vector in which accretions of knowledge and attitudinal change advance the human race. Lee argues instead that an embodiment-focused approach acknowledges social construction as well as shows technologies create different spaces and times for human experience.

The case of North Koreans watching illegally distributed South Korean media and Hollywood films shows that the discussion of intellectual property violation does not take into account the local context in which these goods are distributed and consumed. This chapter uses the concepts materiality and corporeality to show that material properties and the bodies matter in the smuggling of media goods across the border because the majority of North Koreans do not have Internet connection and the government deems possessing foreign media a crime. The chapter however cautions that Western news reports about the everyday life in North Korea are motivated to differentiate the East from the West. In these reports, North Koreans are deemed to be animal-like, and foreign media can lift them up to become enlightened beings. The dichotomy between the East and West, between North Koreans and Western beings is problematic because news discourse sees capitalism as a superior system, thus attributing negative qualities to non-capitalist systems.

This chapter offers a feminist political economic understanding of the global digital divide by offering a critique from a Global South standpoint. It first summarizes how feminists theorize the divide: some believe digital technologies promote gender equality; others believe they exacerbate gender inequality. It next examines how international organizations implemented programs that are embedded with a neoliberal agenda. Lastly, it shows how transnational companies such as Google appear to provide public services for the digitally disconnected, yet their motivations are driven by profits.

The case of North Koreans watching illegally distributed South Korean media and Hollywood films shows that the discussion of intellectual property violation does not take into account the local context in which these goods are distributed and consumed. This chapter uses the concepts materiality and corporeality to show that material properties and the bodies matter in the smuggling of media goods across the border because the majority of North Koreans do not have Internet connection and the government deems possessing foreign media a crime. The chapter however cautions that Western news reports about the everyday life in North Korea are motivated to differentiate the East from the West. In these reports, North Koreans are deemed to be animal-like, and foreign media can lift them up to become enlightened beings. The dichotomy between the East and West, between North Koreans and Western beings is problematic because news discourse sees capitalism as a superior system, thus attributing negative qualities to non-capitalist systems.

The pervasive consumption of smuggled foreign media in North Korea means that societal changes may bring political economic changes. To analyze how drastic political and economic changes may relate to and resulted from changing media systems and cultures, we conducted a 3-country comparison between present-day North Korea, China from the late 1970s to present day, and East Germany before the reunification with West Germany. We compared government control of media ownership and content; the flow and consumption of foreign media among citizens; the sizes of the media economy and the black market in which legal and illegal media, respectively, circulates; and the adoption of nonlocal cultures in relation to citizens' political views. Reflecting on the experiences of China and East Germany, we believe that the North Korean case is more similar to the East German case rather than to the Chinese case because the government cannot effectively control foreign media consumption and its influence on the citizens, so the country may eventually allow for some foreign media in the country.

The pervasive consumption of smuggled foreign media in North Korea means that societal changes may bring political economic changes. To analyze how drastic political and economic changes may relate to and resulted from changing media systems and cultures, we conducted a 3-country comparison between present-day North Korea, China from the late 1970s to present day, and East Germany before the reunification with West Germany. We compared government control of media ownership and content; the flow and consumption of foreign media among citizens; the sizes of the media economy and the black market in which legal and illegal media, respectively, circulates; and the adoption of nonlocal cultures in relation to citizens’ political views. Reflecting on the experiences of China and East Germany, we believe that the North Korean case is more similar to the East German case rather than to the Chinese case because the government cannot effectively control foreign media consumption and its influence on the citizens, so the country may eventually allow for some foreign media in the country.

This chapter compares the abled bodies of military members in North Korean parades and the disabled bodies of some North Korean defectors. Photographs are believed to reveal the truth about this politically isolated country. Yet, the photographs have to be critiqued because North Korean government is aware of the power of photographs, so they staged not only abled but also identical bodies in parades. However, photojournalists fragment the bodies and deny individuality by highlighting the masses and specific body parts. The bodies of North Korean defectors are also believed to reveal some truth and their disabled bodies are seen to embody the country. Seeing North Korea as a 'disabled' nation denies its political economic autonomy and subjects it to control by the international community. In addition, the disabled bodies of defectors are said to record state brutality; yet disabilities are hidden from view. The reason why photojournalists lure viewers to look, but deny them a full view may be explained by an emphasis on how North Korea can be known rather than what North Korea is. In this way, photographs do not reveal any truth about North Korea but is a means through which photographers and viewers exert control on the country.